
SUMbQ 



mm 



m 



smh 



./''V. 



m& 



m 



7 - ■-,■■■}, ■r.Jt >:-•■>, ■ 

m 

WMwHm mm 

■ Eg 

nBr/Bft 



I 



■ ■ ■ 



E 



£G 



1 







195* 



"EXCELSIOR" 



OR THE REALMS OF 



POESIE 



BY ALASTOR 




LONDON 

WILLIAM PICKERING 

1852 



f^ 



hnAZ 



10 



fc 



" * Try not the Pafs ! ' the old man faid ; 
* Dark lowers the tempeft overhead, 
The roaring torrent is deep and wide ! ' 
And loud that clarion voice replied 
' Excelfior ! ' " Longfellonv. 

The world's right alchemy reveals no blank. 

Its poets turning meaner* things to gold, 
Still culling from the loftieft lowlieft rank 

Metal more potable than books foretold ; 
Though bullion dearer to the mafs may be, 
Earth's trueft gold is Nature's poetry. 

Kent. 







TO CAPTAIN COLTHURST, 

AND TO THAT BELOVED CIRCLE 

WHOSE KINDNESS AND INTERCOURSE FOSTERED THESE 

EARLY BUDS OF FANCY, 

ARE THEY AFFECTIONATELY AND GRATEFULLY 

INSCRIBED BY 

THE AUTHOR. 




NOTICE. 

INCE completing this enlarged and revifed 
edition for the Public, I have feen an attack, 
(not a critique), in the cc Illustrated London 
News," upon the fmall private edition. 

I will only in the prefent inftance point the reader to 
the end of the volume, for the opinions of men whofe 
broad Sun-like names mine this dim Sulphur-drop of 
fpleen out of fight. J. 




PREFACE. 

ANY of thefe early bloflbms of thought, 
fpringing from a favourite theme, were firft 
culled by the Author for the acceptance of a 
few beloved friends, but were afterwards greatly aug- 
mented, and re- arranged for prefentation to the world ; 
and though their petals may be faulty or but half un- 
folded, let not the golden thread of love which binds 
them together be overlooked. 

A private edition has already been circulated, therefore 
I have been unwilling to alter materially the body of the 
work, but have added a fupplement, to which of courfe 
the dedication and opinions do not extend, as I have there 
given my own opinions freely, which necefTarily may be 



x PREFACE, 

queftioned by many. As fome of the Chiefs of Literature 
have thought it worth perufal and approval, — I apologife 
not for prefenting it to the public, hoping, yea believing, 
as I do, that the fpirit is good, and earner!:, and thus may 
fow fome few feeds of good in the fouls of my fellow 
brothers. 

I fay nothing here in defence of the loofe form of the 
book ; as the reader advances he will find it explain itfelf. 

Should there be anything good in it, that, without fail, 
will be appreciated. If there be not, then who will more 
gladly fee it darned to the earth than, Alaftor ? 

Killarney, Sept. 1,85 1. 



NOTE. 




ED by an exquifite notice of Longfellow's poems by 
Gilfillan, I have fince writing " Excelfior" pro- 
cured and devoured the works of the author of fuch 
critique. — They who would wifh to obtain a broad, 
maffive view of the Literary hiftory and fpirit of the paft half- 
century and prefent time, mould forthwith procure the works of 
this Giant-mind. There alfo they will fee full exhauftive re- 
views, of many of the great men whom I have fo briefly fketched. 
The two " Galleries of Literary Portraits" form a waving 
foreft of grand imagery ; wide information ; liberal and juft cri- 
ticifm ; philofophical acumen, and generous enthufiafm. 

No praife of mine could touch the pale of that awful Sinai, 
whofe grand imagery hangs over and folds around it, even as that 
dread mountain when it fhook with the thunder and lightnings 
of the immediate Godhead ; I allude to thofe grand outpourings 
of a majeftic foul to the Eternal, whofe cryftal floods are gathered 
within his lad great work " The Bards of the Bible." Still it is 
as necefTary, as delightful, to vent a few words of gratitude to its 
Author. It is a tome let down from the fpirit-world ; it is an 



xii NOTE. 

altar raifed to the great I AM, piled with golden thoughts, and 
flame-like utterances. Mountain range after range of vaft and 
glowing thought ftretch away into the holy land of Heaven, and 
over all gradually fpreads the Night-like majefty of Bible-wifdom 
till its religious firmament is fanded with the brilliant ftars of re- 
velation, to which Gilfillan's foul is as the telefcope, bringing 
whole hidden galaxies to view. 

Here is the rapt foul of a latter-day Hebrew Poet, comment- 
ing upon his brothers of eld. He fpeaks in fire and thunder ; 
he writes, he feels ; he pities ; yea, he creates, like a God ! — 
but he afpires ; loves, — and forrows over human miferies as a 
Man ! — He is a religious enthufiaft without intolerance ; a mourn- 
er over human frailty, — not a fatirifr. ; a bold minifter of the liv- 
ing God, — and a manly fpiritual leader of the young minds of 
the prefent fceptical Era ; nor can his influence be unfelt upon 
his age. 

As the dead RafFael lay glorified beneath his magnificent pic- 
ture of " The Transfiguration," fo may Gilfillan lie with greater 
glory, and more Godlike features, beneath the fhadow of this 
grand Temple he has raifed to the mighty God whom he loves 
as a child, but worfhips like a Seraph. 

Ye who have hung with delight o'er the pages of that noble 
work ! Have I fpoken too warmly in its praifes ? I have at leaft 
paid my own foul's debt of gratitude to its beloved Author ! 

J. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface . .... 

CHAPTER I. 
" Invocation" and " Definition of Poefie" 



CHAPTER II. 



Introduction to Friend; 



CHAPTER III. 

Reprefentatives. — 'The Four Quarters of the World of Poefie . 

CHAPTER IV. 

Notices of favourite Poets — chiefly living ones 

Byron, Keats, Shelley, Tennyfon, Bailey, Atherftone, Kent, 
Longfellow, Emerfon, Willis, Leigh Hunt, Lamartine, Cook, 
Mackay, Bulwer, (Dickens, Robert Hunt.) 



CHAPTER V. 



Afcent of Mangerton 



Page 
ix 



'4 



35 



xiv CONTENTS. 

Page 

CHAPTER VI. 

Notices of various Poets of the Pall ..... 40 

Hemans, L. E. L., Dante, Akenlide, Burns, Coleridge, Ro- 
gers, Scott, Young, Cowper, Wilfon, Milman, Schiller, 
Bowles, Southey, Marlowe, Moore, Landor, Hood, Gray 
and Collins, Pope, Beattie, Goldfmith, Crabbe, Chatterton, 
Croly, Bryant, Kirke White, Montgomery, Campbell, 
Barry Cornwall. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Mucrofs Abbey (or Irelagh) . ... . . -65 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Introduction. — Definition of Time. — Relative pofition of Man 

and Nature. — Explanatory " Vifion of Thought" . . 70 

CHAPTER IX. 
The Poet's Duty 83 

CHAPTER X. 

A flight general review of part Poetry, and its influence over Man- 
kind .......... 89 

CHAPTER XI. 
A foiled Afcent 96 

CHAPTER XII. 

*' Why mould not this Age become the richeft flower-garden of 

Poefie?" 101 

Conclufion, and three Farewells . . . . . .106 

SUPPLEMENTARY. 

Paft. — Prefent. — Future. — Stray thoughts, — and felf-criticifm . 114 



THE POET. 




* HEN the Poet) calm and faintly , 

Chants his folemn midnight theme, 
Lijlen to his notes, which faintly 
SJ Waft from antenatal dream. 

Golden thoughts in Jlarry cluflers, 
Swell and glitter through his mind. 

When his God-like powers he mufters, 
To refine and raife his kind. 

Darts through Heaven his rapier fpirit, 
Pales its light before God's throne ; 

And with Love alone tojleer it, 

Wings its flight through realms unknown. 

Cleaves it now the morn's bright portals, 
Floats on Sunfet's golden cars ; — 

Mingles next with bright Immortals 
As it greets the banded Jlars. 

Mourns he now that Sin and Sorrow 
Trail their Jlime o'er flowers of Earth, 

But predicts the bright to-morrow 
Dawning o'er its fecond birth. 

(When Hate's ferpent-head is crujh'd 
'Neath the mighty heel of Love^ 



xvi THE POET. 

And again with victory flujh'd 
O'er it broods the myflic dove !) 

Cradled "'tween the plumes of Science 
Skims he now the fields of Space, 

Hope his pilot, — hot defiance 
Hurls at Cuftom's anger' d face. 

Who is he loves not the Poet, 

Who derides God's teacher-child? 

Up and to the Nations Jhow it ! 
Lift their execrations wild. 

They will tell thee that thou liejl, 
For that ever bold and true 

Were the bards whom thou decriejl, 
And on wings of glory few ! 

Heaven and Earth fe em far afunder 
Matter knows not Spirit' s form, 

Tet God's voice /peaks not in thunder, 
Bur/Is not through the folds of Storm! 

But as lightning Infpiration 
Cleaves it firft the Poet's foul; 

Then with mufical gyration 
Out the myftic numbers roll. 

Realms offpirit and of matter 
Now appear dijfever'd wide, 

But the Poet yet jl) all fatter 

Waves of Ignorance that divide! 

Up ! then burning Orbs of Song, 
O'er foul-darknefs pour your light ! 

Stream dark caves of Guilt among, 
Gild the palace-domes of Right ! 



« excelsior;' 

OR THE REALMS OF POESIE. 



CHAPTER I. 

Invocation. 

H thou whofe cryftal fhrine o'erroofs man's 
loftieft hopes and afpirations ! who bearefl 
the golden keys of nature's myfteries and 
the majeftic defigns of nature's God ! whofe 
fhowy feet purify and exalt the beauteous 
earth o'er which they fo lightfomely bound, 
but whofe finger is ever fpired to the ftar-lamped realms of Hea- 
ven ! In whofe deep foul all beauties and fublimities are cafketed, 
and who art the Guardian Angel of man's holieft impulfes and 
meditations ! Thee, O Poefie, do I rapturoufly hail ! Thee 
have I ever loved ! far too wildly for mere worldly profperity ! 
— at thy feet have I in filence caft thofe richeft offerings — how- 
ever poor — my youthful days, heart, and hopes; — whofe fra- 
grance mall yet teem from the lips of thy golden cenfer ! 




2 INVOCATION. 

" Reflected in thy deep azure eyes have I feen the glories of 
Time unfolded, and caught far ftarry glimpfes of Eternity and 
Infinity ! 

" From childhood thou haft been my heart's deareft friend : 
thou alone haft ever fympathifed with, foftened and alleviated my 
forrows, — for when the denfe gloom of the night of Mifanthropy, 
fell darkly over the lovely land of Hope, — did not thy mild face, 
my bright mental moon break through the black clouds and pour 
a foftened beauty o'er my onward path ? with flowers did'ft thou 
not enwreathe the arrows of fierce thought, and ftinging fcep- 
ticifm, which had elfe pierced and paralyzed this wild brain ? 
haft thou not been to me as the deareft, moft foftering mother ; 
the moft darling fifter ; and wilt thou not be the bright, beau- 
teous and fpiritual bride of my afpiring foul ? In thy pearly arms 
would I breathe my laft ; thy holy breath fhall waft my fpirit's 
fkifF o'er the azure depths of Infinity, to the golden ifles of Hea- 
ven, nor wilt thou difdain to ftrew thy fragrant blofToms o'er 
the tomb of this my worn out mortal ark, when I float away from 
the dark heaving fea of mortal life — into the funny air-realms of 
the fpiritual, for thou haft told me that the grave is but the fhady 
avenue to the glowing land of myfteries. 

" And fhall I, becaufe the dark fpirit Mammon now flaunts 
his ebon ftandard over the Nations, — bafely fear to raife thy own, 
far above on the mountain-peaks of Hope and Love ? Shall I 
left cold felfifh fouls brand me with the name of Enthufiaft or 
Maniac, — which I mould glory in from their hands, — bafely 
forgetting thy favours, choke the burning words of praife mant- 
ling to my lips ? 

" No ! grant me but a Angle ray of thy infpiration, and min- 



INVOCATION. 3 

gled with my own fire I will once again light up thy neglected 
fhrine, that youthful fouls at leaft feeing it, may take heart, fall 
before— and humbly lay their offerings upon it ! " 

Thus thought the wandering, enthufiaftic Julian, after leaving 
a lovely and imaginative circle of chance-made friends, who ap- 
peared to him as a rich tuft of foreft flowers, for they loved not 
the hot, dufty, and garifh paths of the World, but bloomed 'neath 
the cool fhady coverts of maternal Nature ; their meek eyes 
raifed with love and gladnefs through the lattices of the green 
frefh foliage overhead to the deep blue realms of heaven. Oh 
may never one of them be tranfplanted into the dry and formal 
parterres of the world ! 

Julian had ever been eagerly longing and feeking for fome dif- 
ftant nebula of heart-cheering friends, and now after many weary 
days had their light dawned fuddenly over his path, and full well 
did he know how to value and appreciate the mild luftre of 
their unworldly friendfhip. 

He had exchanged a few of his filver gofTamer webs of fancy, 
for a more than equivalent value of their golden threads of reli- 
gion and purity, which he gladly entwined around his heart. But 
chiefly the fnowy hand of Love had led him to their fpotlefs 
family altar, where the ftill fmall voice of earneftnefs fpoke deeper 
meanings to his liftening foul, than all the gufty harangues of 
Popular Preachers ! 

He faw here faith and good works go hand in hand, and like 
Simeon of old when he had found what he had long been feeking, 
he likewife felt ready to depart in peace, for that pure fragrant 
religion, like a lovely orange-tree, cluttered with fragrant flowers 
and golden-globed fruit, which he had long fearched for in vain, 



4 INVOCATION. 

flood now before him. Right royally, did he obferve, that this 
differed from the fo-called religion he had met with too often in 
the World — which he knew to be but glaring tulip-like Profef- 
fion, all outward gaudy (how, but no perfume arifing from its 
black heart. 

Deeply was his foul relieved, and deeply did he thank God for 
this unexpected blefling. 

Let us recall his wandering thoughts. He thus was pouring 
out his gratitude to his Goddefs Poefie, nor could there be any 
great harm in his adoration, for me lifted him high above many 
of the dark pitfalls of youth, as alfo above the foul fepulchres of 
Avarice, and Selfifhnefs, and kept his eyes fixed on the iky above 
where her radiant face beamed forth ftar-like, where alfo the other 
orbs of revelation came faltering gradually in. Poefie being near- 
eft and dearefr. to the young mental orb, is to it a luminary of 
the firft magnitude, and thofe who firfr. fee her dazzling light 
through the twilight of their minds, as the night of wifdom grows 
deeper and more holy, obferve her loftier and more diftant fitters 
appearing one by one, till at laft their fouls are filled with ftarry 
thoughts and revelations. Many fouls can only defcry her loftier 
but fterner fitter — Religion, when feen reflected in the clear mir- 
rors of her loving eyes ! 

And as his imaginative friends, (fearing Julian might comet- 
like foon wheel off into his aphelion and be no more feen of them) 
had befought him to gather a few flowers of thought from his 
favourite theme as a memento of once happy converfe — he at 
length afTented and clapping fpurs to his fancy proceeded thus. 



Definition of Poefie. 

POESIE is the lightning chain 'twixt Earth and Heaven : — 
the ethereal ladder on which angelic thoughts of Afpiration 
afcend from man to his God ; and of Infpiration defcending from 
God to his earthly children. It elevates the real into the ideal, 
and thus eternizes fleeting Time-fhadows ; annihilates the cold 
falfe and dead laws of materialifm, — by diflblving the hard Real 
into the plaftic vapour of Imagination : — and points the hidden 
eternal fpirit or meaning couched beneath evanefcent material 
forms and operations, which are but the outer alphabet to be 
learned by the youthful foul of man. It is the telefcope piercing 
into the depths of the Infinite ; and the microfcope revealing the 
wondrous beauty and God-given majefty of the Finite. 

She darts through the Univerfe; peeps through the golden gates 
of Heaven ; peers lovingly and longingly into the fecrets of all 
other worlds, and the glories and myfteries of this ; flits round 
the lovely ftars as inquifitive moths do round the lights of even- 
ing, and bridges the Infinite from world to world, and from galaxy 
to galaxy with her flowery feftoons of Imagination. 

She wears at her girdle the golden keys of Time, Space and 
Eternity, at whofe enchanted touch thofe majeftic gates fly back 
and reveal their wondrous fecrets ; and her eyes are the mirrors 
which reflecl: the moft lofty and ftarreal myfteries ! 

She is God's own beloved handmaid and faithful fervitor, (for 
he accepted her fervices in the revealing of his holy Word and 



6 DEFINITION OF POESIE. 

Will to mankind), and her fublimeft and loftieft theme is Re- 
ligion. 

Language is merely her vehicle, — the raft which floats her noble 
promptings and impulfes (ifTuing from her votaries to the whole 
human family), through the portals of Sound and depofits their 
golden freight in the Halls of Mind. Or language, we may fay, 
is but the outer and Symbolic garment of the idea, which idea, is 
floated into and reprefented to the eye of the mind, through the 
aid of its imagery — for all language is bafed upon the imagery of 
the outward or material Univerfe. Now, Poefie being lovely and 
noble in herfelf, difdains to prefent herfelf to the gaze of the 
Mind in aught but a lovely euphonius, found-vefture, but this fhe 
cafts ofF when me has been received within the innermoft Cham- 
bers of Thought, and flands revealed as naked Truth. 

In fine, every foul-prompting, if pure, lovely, or fublime, is 
Poefie ! everything which elevates or ennobles man's foul, and 
buoys it up nearer Heaven, is Poefie in one or other of her Pro- 
tean fhapes. But mere rhyme is not ; and ideas though clad in 
the moft lovely or glittering vefture of words, and wafted on 
clouds of the richeft melody, are not necessarily poetry; for 
thefe are but as the glofiy outward appearance of the fhell, and 
may enclofe but a rotten kernel, or may refemble, perchance thofe 
richly-fculptured marble fepulchres which contain notwithstand- 
ing all this, but rotten bones. 

No ! but when a lovely fhell enclofes a found delicious kernel, 
then is Poetry a divine Strengthening gift to the human mind — 
and then fhall that kernel fpring up and bear the fruit of noble 
thoughts and actions an hundredfold. 

We have had gorgeous and dazzling poetical language and 



DEFINITION OF POESIE. 7 

imagery, wafted on the pinions of the moft voluptuous melody, 
from fuch as the fhort-fighted world often calls, " Great Poets," 
who were little better oftentimes than demons difguifed in flefh. 

Many think poetry to be the mere melody-wheel'd, fairy car, 
in which lovely thoughts, and rich imagery, are carried pleafure- 
ably into the mind. — We maintain that it mould be the fiery- 
winged chariot with thunderous wheels, tearing up the fallow 
mental fields through which it cleaves, and ftrewing the golden 
grain of truth into the deep delved furrows, fo that the once 
barren foil mould wave richly with the ripened ears of noble ac- 
tions. 

That Poetry is alone true, grand, and fublime, which takes 
man from his worm-like crawling in the duft, and plumes his 
foul with angel-wings of afpiration, which mall foar upwards, and 
upwards, till 'they reft on the glorious foot-ftool of God. 





CHAPTER II. 

Vague Introduction to Friends^ and to following Notices. 

HUS far Julian proceeded in his written fancies, 
when Evening brought, in her glittering ftar-gemmed 
hands, as the moft welcome gift 'fhe could offer, 
the hour of meeting his friends. 
He departed, and, as he neared their bleffed manfion, and 
walked up the thickly- wooded avenue, liftening with rapture to 
the melodious breath of the winds filling its natural aifles of 
(hade, — the ftars, thofe filver urns of heaven, poured down their 
cryftal ftreams of light through the dark fibrous branches of the 
winter trees, feeming a delightful prelude to the heaven within. 
The accuftomed found of mufic hung like rich clouds of fra- 
grance over the abode, made more fweet by the pure warm foul 
he knew was mingled with it, and floating on its alternately rifing 
pinions, or foftly declining cadences. 

The hollow knock brought the dear face of the faithful old 
fervitor to the door, and introduced him with fmiles of welcome 
to this lately-found home of his heart. 



VAGUE INTRODUCTION, &c. g 

Once more his foul dilated when he perceived the gloomy 
Paft, ({landing like a dark, hateful fpectre, by the fide of the 
fmiling and angelic-eyed Prefent — touched by her winning looks,) 
at laft Hope unwillingly away to the engulphing caves of Oblivion. 

Mufic and Poefie now threw their interwoven branches over 
him ; the holy family prayer again afcended like a filvery cloud 
to Heaven ; and lo ! now Genius and Beauty rewarded him with 
cheering fmiles as they bent their kind eyes over his haftily-writ- 
ten fcroll. 

The word of parting was once more exchanged, but now it 
founded not fo drear and doleful, for the haunting fpeclre of the 
paft had left him, and his foul alfo acknowledged the power 
wherewith praife and appreciation from pure feminine lips are 
endowed. 

Again the hofpitable door was clofed gently behind him, but 
as he raifed his eyes to heaven, and gazed upon the glorious ftars 
(who had ever appeared to him as meek-eyed fitters), and the 
blefTed filvery moon, whofe united grandeur and lofty beauty had 
firft infpired his foul with intenfe poetic longings ; he felt that he 
yet might mare fome fmall fragment of their bright immortality. 

Arrived at his adopted lake-fide home, reclining by his cheer- 
ful turf fire, and gazing into the filver'd face of the beauteous 
Night, the umbrous Mountains ftanding like huge penitent giants, 
foftened down and dimly filvered by the lovely prefence of their 
" fayre ladye," the Moon, he poured forth the following molten 
fancies, alternately turgid or calm-flowing, as the fhadows of his 
favourite poets pafTed fpirit-like in folemn review o'er the moon- 
like difc of his mind. 



CHAPTER III. 



The Four Quarters of the Poetic World. 




HJKESPEJRE—reprefcnts the World of Man in 
all its motley phafes, and pofTefTes the key of the hu- 
man mufeum. 

2. Spenfer^ Word/worthy Thomfon. — Thefe three 
reprefent the World of Nature. The firft, in its romantic garb ; 
the fecond, in its philofophical ; and the laft, in its naked beauty, 
except as fhrouded in the encircling mifty folds of Divine Pro- 
vidence. 

3. Dante^ Milton^ Pollok. — Thefe three reprefent the Reli- 
gious World, rifing like ethereal fun-lit clouds above the firft two 
clalTes, inafmuch as they have painted in undying colours the 
religious beliefs, afpirations, and thoughts of their day, heightened 
by their own lofty conceptions. 

They ftood before the world as expounders and developers of 
Revelation, and openers of alternately difmal or enchanting viftas, 
through the otherwife dark, impenetrable, and myfterious forefts 
of Time and Eternity. 



GOETHE — SHELLEY— BTRON. ir 

4. Goethe , Shelley ^ Byron. — And now, laftly, we take as repre- 
fentatives of the fceptical portion of the World of Man thefe 
three great poets, who reprefent the heart of Man as deeply influ- 
enced by, but not as enlightened worfhippers at, the laft men- 
tioned but greateft fhrine. They felt deeply the prefent little- 
nefs, but great future capabilities of man, and the majeftic beauty 
and myftery of Nature. 

The inherently dazzling and heated conceptions of their minds 
(heated by the intenfe beams of deep and over-ardent thought) 
would but indiftinc~tly allow the diftant but far mightier rays of 
the one great Sun of Truth to pafs into, and give genial heat, 
as well as light to their dependent fpheres (though perhaps from 
a falfe idea of felf-emanating light, they did not, or would not, 
acknowledge fuch dependence). 

Perchance, being but planets, they ignorantly perfuaded them- 
felves they were funs ; nor faw they that they fhone with a bor- 
rowed, though unacknowledged, light ! They thought themfelves 
light-particles of the Great Pofitive Mind ! 

A cling too much on this falfe fuppofition, they are left to the 
gaze of the world as mattered, or rather as half-developed ftatues ; 
— as ideal images of Chaos before the one mighty forming Spirit 
moved o'er and threw the mantle of order and beauty upon its 
difmal bulk ; and like it they wear an unformed, darkly clouded, 
and wretched afpecl:, all being devoured by mental doubts and 
torturing fcepticifm. 

The Spirit of God had not moved over the face of their dark 
waters : — the true Sun of Life had never foared above and brightly 
gilded their formlefs mental mountains and gloomy oceans, nor 
had its kindly warmth ever called forth its teeming creation of 



i2 GOETHE — SHELLEY— BTRON. 

lifeful, joyous, and exulting thoughts. The broad calm enduring 
funlight of Revelation was difcarded for the fitful flafh of incon- 
ftant meteors. 

Yet ere Time merges in Eternity fhall one fuch chaotic mind 
gradually rife from its black depths of felf-pride and deadly tor- 
por, till the fun of Life and Divinity, failing high over and dart- 
ing life and heat through its former half-ftagnant depths, mail 
call forth for the enlightenment of mankind a new and glorious 
creation, a harveft of lofty thoughts founded upon and fpringing 
from the noble truths and promptings of the Material Univerfe, 
and which fhall ftamp deeply on the foul of man the as yet only 
half-developed truth — that mind, and not matter, is the founda- 
tion-ftone of Nature, and fhall prove that there is a deeper mean- 
ing and majefty about her than has yet been difcovered. 

That thou wilt foon throw fuch a foul into the world is the 
heartfelt and earneft prayer, O ! Heavenly Father, of all thy ex- 
pectant and afpiring children ! We know thou wilt not leave us 
in the darknefs of Ignorance if we earneftly fupplicate thee for 
wifdom, and prepare our fouls by a long courfe of love and hu- 
mility for its proper reception. Nor fhall, we hope, the leflbn 
of Solomon's fall be forgotten or unheeded. 

Flowers of truth, of the moft gorgeous hues and of the rich- 
eft fragrance, clufter on the Banks of Eternity and the Spirit 
Realms :— but he who would gather them whilft clothed with 
the folds of humanity, muft crofs the ftreams of Time by that 
rainbow Arch of Ideality, whofe warders and minifters are Hu- 
mility, Univerfal Love, and the mother of both — Religion; any 
of whom being unknown will bar and prevent his pafTage to 
them : — for never fhall he bring and flaunt their bloflbms on this 



GOETHE — SHELL ET—BTRON. 13 

fide the grave merely to flatter his felf-pride, — never mail they be 
gathered for the mere admiration of mortals, or except for fome 
nobly ufeful end. Their petals would only be torn by the dif- 
dainful hands of Pride, when they had ceafed to charm by their 
novelty ! 

Many are loudly calling for a further divine revelation. Have 
they made proper ufe of the firft ? Have they imbedded its noble 
maxims in their innermoft fouls ? When this is done, and they 
fhow themfelves worthy of future knowledge, then God will not 
be backward in affording it ! 




CHAPTER IV, 




AVING received encouragement from his friends, 
after reading to them by requeft, when afTembled in 
folemn conclave, the preceding flight fketch, he pro- 
ceeded thus : — 



A GLANCE AT JULIAN'S FAVOURITE POETS. 

The illujirious contemporary Trio, and bejl-beloved Poet-friends of 
our Youth — Byron, Keats, and Shelley. 

Ye whom we have loved more than brothers, with a bound- 
lefs and, perchance, too rafh and unwife love, now will we de- 
lightedly offer this fmall, but heartfelt tribute of gratitude to your 
manes ! May that God, whom ye in your fpiritual ftates muft 
now have learned to venerate more highly, give us ftrength to 
do you juftice, and gather wifdom from a long contemplation of 
your greatnefs, beauties, and, we muft forrowfully add, — failings ! 

We mail firft find three noble natural fymbols to convey 
ftrongly our eftimate of their feveral great phafes of mind. 



Byron is a femblance of the Sun in his meridian fplendour — 



BTRON— KEATS — SHELLET. 15 

fierce, wild, and confuming. His mind was one that dazzled and 
bewildered the mid-day traveller of the paths of life ; forced him 
to lie down defpondingly in his weaknefs by the wayfide ; then 
irritated him with its burning and feverifh beams ; and when he 
was able to rife, lo ! the gloom of night fpread difmally around 
him. 

Keats refembles the Moon with all its delicious filverings of 
light and made, throwing a heavenly light over every valley, 
mountain, ftream, and foreft, over which its faintly beams fo 
lovingly fell ; clothing Nature with a vefture of the loftieft claf- 
fical beauty, and throwing a gleam of fplendour into the dark 
caves of mind, and over the mattered mountains of the religious 
creeds, afpirations, and lore of the otherwife dim Paft. 

Shelley refembles the dim myfterious ftarlight, where, through 
the dark-blue boundlefs dome of the fky, his thoughts gleam 
filently forth, filling its majeftic circle with twinkling ftarry lights, 
dim only from their diftance and loftinefs. Still they are grand 
revelations of the mighty magnificence and boundleflhefs of the 
Temple of Nature. 

Having thus exprefled, by a link of bold natural fimiles, the 
different characteriftics of each, we will now break the link, and 
treat themfelves, their works, and their influence, individually. 

BYRON. — The life of this Titanic poet was in itfelf a moll 
inftruc~r.ive drama, and he was the real living hero of it. 

The failings, broken afpirations, and warning example of the 
hero of any great ideal drama could never have produced fo deep 
and forcible an effect on the mind of man ; for the truths con- 



16 BTRON. 

veyed under the form of any fuch fictitious hero would only- 
have affected fenfitive and thoughtful minds. 

But the veritable life of a great and renowned living man 
appeals boldly to the minds of all, and Byron's real and living 
example " was known and feen of all men." 

They, who, having the power, will not inftrucl: and elevate 
the world by inculcating good principles through the medium of 
their works and actions, inform it oftentimes more effectually by 
their erring lives, which nearly ever are darkened by that black 
foreft which fprings from the feeds of whatever fin they them- 
felves have fown and foftered. 

Every loftily- framed mind muft have fome grand faith or 
belief ftill loftier than itfelf to look up to, which generates Hope, 
(and how dark and miferable is man without her cheering 
beams !) and till fuch belief has taken deep root, life is but a 
reftlefs feverifh dream, and one wide defert of mifery, to efcape 
from which an ocean of crime and excefs is ufually formed 
wherein to engulf the galling fhackles of thought. 

Thofe who wifh to take a fair eftimate of Byron muft not 
forget the force of his naturally implanted paflions, nor the dif- 
appointments, the deep forrows and vexations, which added fuel 
to, and then fet them ablaze. 

His early infulted lamenefs, (and infulted by a parent too !) ; 
the bad training of his fickle-minded and paflionate mother ; no 
father to give him kind and wholefome advice, or fet a good 
example ; his early paflionate love difappointed ; his own 
youthful imprudence, and the temptations to which his rank 
fubje&ed him ; the neglect that bitterly galled his proud foul on 
firft taking his feat amongft his Peers ; and, added to thefe, the 



BTRON. 17 

reptile fting of Jeffrey when he firft. confidingly offered his 
youthful effufions to the public, followed by the overpowering 
and unwife torrent of public praife when he hurled wildly back 
his fcorn and indignation ; furely thefe facts ought to plead elo- 
quently for fo fenfitive a mind, and all will now generoufly admit 
they were calculated to froft the nobleft buds of promife as they 
were juft unfolding. 

Let the fheer of contempt be Jeffrey's well-earned tribute, 
whenever the delinquences of poor Byron are mentioned, in 
memory of that frofty, and calmly farcaftic critique on the firft 
fimple fpring flowers of the paflionate young Poet, which caufed 
him to tear up the lovely budding bulbs of Fancy and Imagina- 
tion, to tranfplant the richly hued but deadly nightfhade flowers 
of poifonous Paflions ! 

Wondrous was Byron's command of powerful and expreflive 
language, and grand or delicate imagery ; and had he not met 
with fo much to difguft him with life and his fellow-men, they 
would have been devoted to the fervice of far higher and purer 
fhrines than thofe of the bafe Paflions and Mifanthropy ! 

The fierce hatred of cant and feeming goodnefs was at leaft a 
rtoble feature, and fhowed a genuine nobility and truthfulnefs of 
foul ! 

He fails through the firmament of time as a huge black cloud 
toiling heavily through its pilgrimage, and dropping at intervals 
large drops of thunder rain, or darting from its bofom annihilat- 
ing bolts of forked lightning, fcathing and fcorching the fpots on 
which they fall : and oh ! what a relief to the world it brooded 
darkly over, when, arrived at the horizon's edge and the gates of 
evening, the fun it had obfcured during moll of its day's journey 

c 



18 BTRON— KEATS. 

mot forth its expiring fplendour, and fteeped that cloud's previous 
black fkirts in dazzling gold and crimfon ! 

The funlight filvered only his morning of life (which dawned 
in Caledonia), and caft its golden beams over its evening, which 
faded away in the glorious land of Greece. 

Let not any canting and inflated Pharifee wafte his breath in 
cenfuring poor Byron, but let him rather take heed from his 
example to go and do better, as he will otherwife only recall to 
memory that ancient brother of his, who thanked God " that he 
was not as other men were * * * * nor even as this publican" ! 

We will here add, that a pure and elevated Byron is now 
called for eagerly by the world ; one who has an equal hatred of 
the cant and falfe profeflion which are now gnawing away the 
roots of all that is noble, manly, or true, and who, whilft brand- 
ing craft, felnfhnefs, and vice, mail do it, not for the purpofe 
of raifing his own fame, but to purify and exalt his fellow-men ! 

KEATS. — Beloved Keats! Thou graceful and beauteous 
fawn, that cameft to drink and refrefh thyfelf at the cool ftreams 
of Poefy, and there received the venomous arrow of the crouch- 
ing aflaflin ; oh ! how our heart yearns to meet thee in thfrt 
" better land," which we feel allured thou art now roaming, to 
pour our ftreams of gratitude in thine ear, and to inform thee 
how thoufands have deprecated and defpifed the wretch who in- 
flicted thy death wound ! 

Since firft our foul dilated over thy chafte and lovely pages, 
we have never ceafed to efteem thee as the beft-loved friend of 
our heart. Surely if there be communion of fouls hereafter, we 
mall yet meet and rove the Elyfian fields together ! 



KEATS. 19 

The poetry of Keats is one mafs of glittering, or foft gleaming 
ideas, enveloped in clouds of golden hazy romance. His quaint 
flyle of language has a furprifingly expreflive power, and by its 
aid every image is clearly and boldly chifelled out. Originality 
of thought, ftyle, and expreflion was never more ftrongly evi- 
denced by the works of any poet, modern or ancient. 

Like fome errant ftreamlet threading the wild foreft maze, 
gurgling and gufhing, or idly dreaming along, through o'erarch- 
ing banks banner'd with ferns, eyed with dancing flowers, 
fringed with feathery grafles and fucculent herbage; — now re- 
flecting in its dancing waves the inpeeping fky-fragments, anon 
calmly gliding beneath and glafling, the cloiftral gloom of the 
matted arborage o'erhanging its blackened depths, and at length 
ifluing joyoufly into the funny, bleating paftures, reflecting the 
infinite depths of the azure heavens — even fo does the gratefully 
refrefhing ftream of his poetry flow, and fill with frefh beauty 
every mind which opens its floodgates for its entrance. 

In his " Endymion," and in the fplendid fragment of cc Hy- 
perion," he has proved with what a warm fpirit he loved and 

refpe&ed the beliefs and lore of the claflic paft ; and through 
st ... . 

tnem he has familiarifed the prefent age with their before fading 

beauties, putting us forcibly in mind of Schiller's noble appeal in 

his manly poem " The Gods of Greece." 

All who are enamoured with beauty, love, or purity of heart, 

we feel allured, will find in Keats a beloved companion and 

brother. 

SHELLEY. — His glorious mind was a golden cenfer, fwung 
in the giant-hands of Imagination, who fcattered its incenfe, and 



20 SHELLEY. 

filled with its lufcious perfume the lofty dome of the dark blue 
fky, when Evening had lighted up the ftupendous Temple of 
Nature with its filver lamps, the ftars. 

All that is lovely and delicate, all that is ftrange or myfte- 
rious, all that is magnificent or fublime in nature, this poet 
feems to have known, loved, and idealized. 

All the moft ennobling and kindly feelings that human nature 
has implanted in it, fpringing from natural and not revealed 
religion, Shelley had o'erflowing his own loving heart; his 
delicate perception of the fainteft developed natural beauties, 
and his command of graphic and elegant language in which to 
exprefs them, is miraculous. 

His foul appears as though it were formed of the moft fine 
and delicate haze, which rofe by virtue of its ethereal lightnefs 
through the heights, and floated through the depths of fpace and 
the univerfe, back to its pofTefTor, who then gave in his poetry 
flight fnatches of fpheral melody, and myftic hints whifpered by 
the Natural Spirit of the Univerfe. 

In the filver mefhes of his poetry are cluftered thoughts, 
delicate as harebells, lofty as the ftars, beauteous as moonlit 
clouds, and profufe as the foreft flowers of Spring. 

He is the Apoftle of Nature; he fings not of religion — that 
was not the province allotted him ; but the faculties given him 
to exalt nature, and noble feelings in the eyes of his fellow-men, 
which were becoming every day more and more overlooked, he 
ufed nobly and powerfully. 

Shelley, perchance unconfcioufly, by his high ideal of Nature, 
and the apparent defign and deep meaning dwelling within her, 
which, none more than he truly felt or faw, raifed as it were the 



SHELLEY, 21 

pyramid-bafe of a grand religion, thoroughly grounded upon, 
and permeated with, the Spirit of Nature ; but the grand throne 
of God he placed not upon it as the finifhing ftroke, — this he 
did not do, we admit, — for the night of Death fell, ere his lamp 
of Faith was lit for the work. 

He who takes Shelley's grand and ennobling ideas of his 
Mother Nature, as the foundation of his fpiritual developement, 
and ufes fimilarly grand ideas to explain and beautify fpiritual or 
divine truths, will raife for himfelf a temple whofe foundations 
mail be firmly grounded in the heart of Nature, and whofe 
dome and golden crofs mall pierce the heavens. 

As to the bitter abufe of Shelley by many, we can only fay, 
that thofe who read him with a wifh to be inftructed, and a 
deep difcerning eye, will never after a careful perufal of his 
glorious works have caufe to regret it, or feel, unlefs moft fcep- 
tical and irreligious by nature, one whit the lefs veneration for 
religion ; — but, on the contrary, will feel greater reverence to 
God and his mighty power and goodnefs ! 

We fay nought to fuperficial and prejudiced readers, who dart 
over the furface, and only take notice of the few dead or un- 
wholefome ideas which may be found floating thereon, and who 
then blazon their petty difcovery to the world ; forgetting that 
their own hearts, which have not been laid bare to the world, 
like Shelley's, may, perchance, be choked up with putrid fhoals 
of evil defires, refembling the Red Sea, when the plague of lo- 
cufts was driven into it ! 

It refts with the reader's own mind, whether he turns what 
he reads to a good or bad account. If it has a natural or 
acquired fceptical turn, then Shelley's is at leaft the loftieft fort 



22 SHELLEY. 

of doubt, where, though the divinity of the revealer of the 
Chriftian doctrines is doubted, His noble maxims of love and 
peace to all men are maintained, and eftimated deeply ! 

Of courfe we except " Queen Mab," which was but a 
youthful compofition, and which he himfelf afterwards depre- 
cated — ftriving to prevent its publication. An early acquaint- 
ance with the fceptical French fchool of writers, and a hatred 
to the petty tyranny of Opinion and Cuftom, generated the 
feeds which fprang up and produced this ram and puerile work, 
the glaring faults of which, under fuch circumftances, no no- 
ble mind will remember againft his embittered youth ! 

We boldly afTert, that if Shelley was not a profeflbr of the 
Chriftian faith, he was a moft Chriftian-like man in heart, 
whofe example in fuch light it would be well for many loudly 
profeffing Chriftians, who have caft their pharifaical eye and 
loud abufe upon his memory, to follow. 

As for his herefies — " he who is perfect, let him caft the firft 
ftone." It is only our all-perfect and mighty God that can do 
that, and to his loving-kindnefs and mercy we leave poor Shel- 
ley, with prayers for an exercife of thofe his mightieft attributes. 

God faw fit to take him from us, we may fay almoft in the 
infancy of his great mind — for we firmly believe that never did 
a grander, more highly and delicately imaginative, or more lov- 
ing fpirit fall into this World, and become cooped in its clay. 

We befeech thee, O God ! to give the true fpirit of difcern- 
ment to all thy earthly children, and efpecially to thofe who 
roam the loftieft realms of mind ! 

Thefe Sketches Julian took and read as ufual to his friends, 



TENNTSON. 23 

when a fharp conflict arofe upon the merits of Shelley: the 
fight grew hot and fierce, but was at length decided by each 
army drawing off its forces. He then continued his notices as 
follows : — 

TENNYSON.— Not exadly cyprefs, but a wreath of 
weeping willow, mould encircle his name. He is enamoured 
with ideal beauty and purity of foul, and he fings the praifes of 
holy and exalted friendfhip more than the warmer paffion of 
Love. He may be characterized as an elevated philofopher 
with a poet's expreffion, which a delicate perception of the beau- 
tiful and true has given him. 

His harp is not fining with firings whofe wild loud notes 
fhall firffc awaken, and then petrify the fnoring World, but with 
filken, filvery, goffamer chords, whofe fairy melody is heard only 
by the delicate fpiritual ear. 

Yet keeps he perhaps too clofe to the fhores of Time, and 
dares not, or will not, fail the mighty oceans of mind, and 
bring us like golden fruit from beyond their diftant fhores, fub- 
lime and infpiriting ideas of Futurity. He keeps his wings too 
clofely furled, when we confider his poetical pov/ers ! 

May Time give him courage and bear him happinefs ; — root 
up the willow which points, with its thoufand drooping and 
nervelefs arms, to the cold earth, and tranfplant the Poplar 
which ever points, with its one firm giant finger, to the bright, 
glorious, and joy-infpiring Heavens ! 

BAILEY. — This is, perhaps, the greater! poet of the prefent 
generation, inafmuch, as in his " Feftus," he has endeavoured 



24 BAILEY. 

to difplay the boundlefs afpirations, thoughts, and failings of a 
young enthufiaftic fpirit, deeply imbued with a love of Nature, 
man, and God, yet wanting the greateft and moft comforting 
doctrine of Faith, from lack of which fpring all the uncurbed 
and boundlefs, but broken, afpirations of youth, and the failings 
and excefTes attendant thereon. 

He has nobly dared to do all this, and the world has not let 
him go unrewarded. 

His laft work, " The Angel World," fhows, however, an 
increafe of faith and humility, confequent upon his having ex- 
haufted the more wild and paflionate feelings of his heart. 

Long ere we knew his name, whilft the hot ferment of youth- 
ful thought made us defperate, we had formed many fimilar ideas 
to thofe propagated in " Feftus," amongft many others ftill 
wilder. We thank God that a more humble and confiding fpirit 
is now at work within us, and we truft that by our works we 
may never fow one feed of doubt relative to thofe revelations 
which are the only hope and comfort of myriads. Still we are 
determined to put the moft kindly and chriftian-like conftruclion 
upon them, and to look more at their general fpirit than at ifo- 
lated pafTages ! 

Now that Bailey has exhaufted all phafes of unbelief, we look 
for the higheft poetic bleffings from him. He will know how 
to adminifter relief to minds in fimilar miferable mental ftates. 

All phafes of mental fuffering muft have been endured by one 
who feeks to enlighten the varioufly-framed minds found in the 
human family. 

Bailey wifhed to become God's poet-prieft, which faith and 
humility will yet conftitute him — (this was a favorite afpiration 
of our own from boyhood). 



BAILEY. 25 

He approaches the neareft to our ideal of a poet, for he boldly 
feizes many problems that perplex and deeply intereft the world's 
mind, and endeavours to folve them. His heart is one mafs of 
religious feeling, and he fees every obj eel: through an elevating 
and divine medium. He knows well enough that everything cre- 
ated bears the ftamp of divinity, and is thus full of deep fpiri- 
tual meaning. 

As for the beautiful and gorgeous imagery, which lies as thick 
on his pages as moonlit fnow on the large leaves of yonder 
winter evergreens, we will only fay — that it was never furpafTed, 
and that never were the riches of a wealthier mind difplayed to 
the world. 

One word at the foot of this notice on the Poet's duty and 
province to explain religious myfteries. 

He is the neareft refemblance by his deep and farfeeing facul- 
ties (which God gave not to be wafted on trifles) of the prophets 
of eld ! If he really be a poet, and not a mere elegant verfifler, 
his foul cannot but be fuffufed with a religious glow — for religion 
is the higheft flower or apex of the mental tree, receives in its 
fragrant cup the refrefhing dews of heaven, and takes its lovely 
hue from gazing fo intently into the deep azure fkies above. 

It cannot be the poet's duty merely to beautify Nature in the 
eyes of his fellow-men, nor can he fatisfy himfelf with fo fuper- 
ficial a tafk. He mult alfo fhow who gave its beauty and ufe- 
fulnefs, why they were given, and the duty of thofe who are 
recipients of their bounty to their great donor ; and we feel af- 
fured that natural truths will explain and carry out fpiritual, and 
that fpiritual will elevate and do the like fervice for natural. 



26 ATHERSTONE. 

All this defpite the cry of puny fouls, that " Theology is 
not the Poet's province," shall henceforward be done, and 
we will then fee if the Poets are neglected (which is the prefent 
cry !) 

The abftract terms and barren ftyle of many theological differ- 
tations may, perchance, inftrucl: and intereft the coldly learned 
man, or ftrengthen his icy faith, but are not ravenoufly feized 
upon by the world at large, who love warmth inftead of frigidity, 
and warm living fymbols inftead of abftracl: ideas, reprefented by 
lifelefs and ftony words. 

When the Theologian plumes his thoughts with the downy 
and buoyant wings of Poefy, then is every breaft eagerly bared 
for them to neftle warmly and lovingly in, and in which they 
may bring forth their broods of high-foaring afpirations. 

ATHERSTONE. — A great living poet, whofe grand epic, 
" The Fall of Nineveh" will do honor to the age. It will long 
ftand to defy the mifliles of that fplenetic criticifm by which it 
has been affailed, and which have only fallen back blunted and 
harmlefs. 

They who wifh to know the grandeur and gorgeoufnefs cloth- 
ing the mighty eaftern empires of the dead Paft, muft enter the 
lofty portals of this poem, and let the brilliant mind of its author 
conduct them through the glowing and voluptuous fcenes, the 
terrific battles, and final downfall of the fuperb Nineveh, when 
its latently brave, yet effeminate monarch at laft fhook off the 
downy feathers of luxury and indolence, and in their ftead donned 
the iron mail of war. 

All the fplendour, beauty, and majefty that the mind can con- 



KENT. 27 

ceive as difplayed in one of thofe defunct coloffal empires of the 
golden Orient, illuminate the pages of this glorious work. 

We read it on our lofty cliff eyrie overhanging the wild and 
eternal-voiced ocean, and fo deeply were we engrofTed and de- 
lighted with its pages, that but for the occafional importunities 
of our reftlefs and affectionate dog, we had quite forgotten that 
we were not really in Nineveh as fpeitators, but fitting where 
a falfe move would have dafhed both the poem and life from 
our brains ! 

We only know this truly Miltonic poet through the pages of 
his above-noticed poem, though we hear he has written much 
more almoft equally admired. 

KENT. — One of our lateft poets. His claffical expreffion, 
the delicate beauty of his thoughts, and his great command of 
expreflive language, hint that he will complete the Trio of claf- 
fically-natural poets, whereof Shelley and Keats are already 
members. 

He has already given us" Aletheia, or, The Doom of My- 
thology" and other minor poems which are fteeped in the purefr. 
and moll cryftal fount of Poefie, and are imbued with the deep- 
eft love and moil delicate perception of the beauties and opera- 
tions of Nature. One entitled " Orcheftral" we think one of 
the moft exquifitely graphic and imaginative gems of modern 
poetry. 

Here is the germ of one of the trueft poets who fhed a luftre 
on any age draped in the waving folds of claflic grace and ele- 
gance. 

We hear fome critic dared to call Kent a voluptuary when 



28 LONGFELLOW. 

criticifing " Aletheia." If richnefs of imagery, fullnefs of ex- 
preffion, and ripenefs of natural affections, conftitute voluptu- 
oufnefs, then, and then only, is Kent guilty of the charge. Let 
us remind fuch critics that a filthy mind fees everything through 
its own medium, and to it, even Purity herfelfy^zj unclean. 

When we furvey our fmall but illuftrious band of living poets, 
with fuch names as Bailey, Atherftone, Longfellow, Tennyfon, 
Mackay, and Kent, as their leaders, who mall dare affirm that 
the prefent age will be a blank in the poetical annals of the Eng- 
lifh language ? 

And when we add the great events that have juft taken and 
are yet taking, place ; the revolutions that have agitated the whole 
European continent ; the ftrides of fcience, and of wide-fpread 
mental developement, and chiefly this noble Induftrial Exhibi- 
tion of 185 1, one of the greateft fchemes of univerfal civiliza- 
tion and friendfhip yet on record ; and alfo that thefe poets (with 
many rifing ftars) are ftill alive to iing their wonders and explain 
their deep meanings and influence over the world's mind, furely 
the prefent age mail appear to future times as a brilliant ftar of 
the firft magnitude ! 

LONGFELLOW. — A deeply-beloved American poet, who, 
however, fighs a little too much after the dead Paft, which feems 
to him as a fetting fun ; the Future appearing but as a fmall ftar 
of the feventh magnitude with uncertain, twinkling light. 

Yet is his foul " a gem of pureft ray ferene," which alfo, cer- 
tainly, " the dark unfathomed caves of ocean" (the deep ocean 
of thought) have borne ; nor has he yet forgotten thofe dark 
caves of gloom. 



EMERSON. 29 

Perchance he may yet flafh back more ftrongly the cheering 
rays of the Sun of Hope, and may yet enliven as well as exalt 
mankind — the latter of which he has already done. 

The world's face is amply fuffufed with tears ; it is the poet's 
duty to wipe away a few — not to add more. 

He has read of, and, perhaps, believed too implicitly, the glories 
of the Pali ; which, after all, if viewed micro-, inftead of tele- 
fcopically, would have mown far more defects than beauties, and 
far more mifery than happinefs. 

One would be led to fancy that he had written many of his 
poems under the denfe gloom of a pine foreft (to which fame 
fombrous trees he is deeply attached). He is, however, a bard 
of deep love and warmeft iympathy ; of the pureft heart, and 
moft elevated and enlightened Chriftian feeling. The elegance 
and deep fentiment of his poetry (and profe likewife) are unfur- 
pafTed in any language. 

May God profper him, and throw a few more funny gleams 
of Hope through the ftiadowy foreft of his mind, and mow more 
brilliantly to the world the cluftering tufts of hopeful-eyed flowers 
that bloflbm under its gloom ! 

His grand " Pfalm of Life" muft neither be forgotten by him- 
felf nor the world ! 

EMERSON. — A great American effayift and poet, and may 
be truly called an Apoftle of Nature. His poems are moft ori- 
ginal in every fenfe. His fine ideas are conveyed in the moft 
grotefque and oracular ftyle, and he appears a fort of male 
fibyl. 

Not only his poetry, but all his writings, are overflowing with 



3 o WILLIS — LEIGH HUNT. 

deep and holy wifdom, whofe fprings flow from his own wealthy 
mind. He is one of Nature's moft free-born and obfervant fons, 
and a ftrong fpirit of independence and originality pervades every 
fentence he has blefTed us with. 

We thank God that he has feen fit to beftow fo nobly a gifted 
mind upon the world ; and we truft that a firm mountain of faith 
will foon lift its creft through the clouds of doubt, from amidft 
the battling waves of fcepticifm which have long fwept over his 
mind ! 

WILLIS. — The intenfe beauty of feveral of this American 
poet's compofitions made us wild with delight when we firft de- 
voured them. 

His " Scholar of Thebet-Ben-Khorat" and " Dying Alche- 
myft," are two moft exquifitely-beautiful, graphic, and inftru&ive 
poems ; and his fine fketches of lovely Scripture fcenes are un- 
furpafTed in their minutely-defcribed beauty. 

His fancies are not nebulous and hazy, but moft elegantly and 
diftinctly chifelled out. 

We fee that his admiration of Byron led him, in one inftance, 
to attempt the wit, and we may almoft add, licenfe, of " Don 
Juan," which is far below his ufual flights. 

Still, as a Poet, his duty is yet unperformed, for mere beauty 
cannot atone for want of earneftnefs in the advancement of the 
great human mind univerfal ! 

LEIGH HUNT.— The Father of a new fchool of poetry, 
where fubtle fancies, and interwoven imagery, fupplant the old 
broad-backed, daylight fimiles of the fchool of Pope, where one 



LAMJRTINE. 31 

thought was often fwelled pompoufly out through a whole page. 
Keats was an admirer and follower of this mafter, and with him 
feemed to wifh for the romance and brilliant fancy of Chaucer 
once more to fail into our poetical firmament. 

Once we detefted him for his attack on Byron when dead, but 
now he has explained that away, we love him for his kindlinefs 
and innocence of foul — his heartinefs of fentiment, and hatred to 
all mawkifhnefs ;— and wifh heartily, that his body were as young 
as his foul. 

His " Tale of Rimini" contains many exquifite and richly 
coloured word-pictures, and many notes of joy and fadnefs hover 
around a quivering firing of narrative, filled with the deepeft 
pathos. 

LAMARTINE.— A noble French poet, whofe life and works 
are of the moft elevated and romantic defcription. 

His mind is a huge cryftal urn, filled with ftarry thoughts on 
the loftiefb themes, human, natural, and divine. 

His foul is a fkylark loft in the azure of the boundlefs firma- 
ment, through which his joyous filvery notes fall over the liften- 
ing world, gladdening thofe who hear them, and keeping their 
eyes ftrained heavenwards. 

He was nurfed in the free arms of Nature ; his more mature 
age panned in the contemplation of her beauties, or in obfervations 
on the world of man ; and the autumn of his life is loaded with 
fruitage ; — for his actions are noble, and his exertions in behalf 
of his fellow-men are unceafing. His noble conduct on feveral 
occafions in the late revolution will never be forgotten. 

The lofty beauty and fylph-like delicacy of his thoughts, and 



32 COOK — MACK AT— BVLWER. 

the intenfe beauty of the imagery in which they fwim like the 
reflex of diamond ftars in a fea of amethyft, carry our minds 
captive into the regions of enchantment. 

May he long live to enrich the world's cafket of gem-like fouls ! 

COOK, MACKAY, BULWER.— The firft two are nobly 
and enthufiaftically endeavouring to infufe into the minds of their 
fellow-countrymen, and efpecially the lower clafTes, a love of 
natural beauty, of contentment with the lot God has been pleafed 
to affign them for his own good ends, as well as for their own, 
and of love to Him and their fellow-mortals. 

Eliza Cook, through her weekly journal, is pouring a flood of 
fimply beautiful thoughts through the mental veins of her beloved 
country. 

Mackay is infpiring them with love to God and all He has 
created, and is aiming annihilating fliafts againft lethargic pride, 
ignorance, and uncharitablenefs, and has endeavoured to teach 
them, that the neceflity of Induftry is not a curfe, but the great- 
eft blefling and confolation of man. (See his " Egeria" efpecially.) 

He who knows the poetry of Mackay, and loves him not as 
a brother, muft have but the dry heart of a mummy. 

They are blowing away quietly but ftrongly the clouds of Igno- 
rance and miftaken pride and prejudice, which hung darkly over, 
and kept the funfhine of contentment and happinefs from gilding, 
their beloved native land. 

Bulwer (Sir L.) is enlightening, through the feduclive medium 
of amufement, and chiefly by his poetic profe (which we admire 
more than his poetry), the high as well as the low, and is gradu- 
ally bringing the beauty and ftrength of the German ftyle , of 



DICKENS. 33 

thought, enveloped in the flowers of fiction, to give depth to and 
beautify the minds of his countrymen. Let his lovely and ro- 
mantic work " Zanoni" bear out what we have juft uttered. 

When in Germany we were aftonimed at the praifes fhowered 
upon his name by that imaginative and enlightened people, and 
we were led to think that the mafs of his countrymen did not yet 
fufficiently underftand or appreciate him. 

We mail here add two notices of men, who, though not known 
to the world as Poets, decked in the trappings of metre and verfe, 
are fo in profe, and what is more, in heart ; they have alfo written 
poetry which mows they have the gift, if they like to ufe it. 

DICKENS muft not go unnoticed ; he has deferved our 
praifes too much for him 

" To ftand as one unlbught and uninvited." 

He is a true poet in heart ; his profe pages teem with poetical 
expreffion of a very high order, and his fentiments are always 
noble and imbedded in deep fympathy. His talents have been 
well employed. 

We look for, as the higheft and pureft flower of Dicken's lite- 
rary growth, a great and enlightening profe-poem, which, being 
more compact than a novel, will bear the bufFettings of time far 
better, and preferve his name uneffaced far longer. 

No one has a broader or deeper foundation of the moft acute 
obfervation to build his temple of truth upon, and we mail con- 
tinue to look forward with expectation to fee its lofty pinnacles 
glittering in, and calling their far-feen beauty through, the poetic 
firmament. 



34 ROBERT HUNT. 

His fabric may be founded in the depths of the human heart, 
and may rife through human affections, fympathies, and failings, 
into the glorious heavens of man's afpirations and achievements. 

ROBERT HUNT.— We will alfo recommend a lovely little 
work of this author's to all v/ho love fcience when draped in the 
enticing garments of imagination. He conveys knowledge through 
the medium of one of the moft chaftely imaginative (whilfl: deeply 
inftructive) fictions we ever cart, our delighted eyes over. We 
allude to his u Panthea." 

His " Poetry of Science" mould alfo be read by all. Such 
books as thefe fhine out of the modern thickets of literature, 
like the mild, but myftic lamps of glow-worms, enlightening 
the furrounding gloom. 

There are other favourite living poets, whom we fhall notice 
in a future chapter, as their works belong more to the paft gene- 
ration. 





CHAPTER V. 

ULIAN having thus dhTected moll of his favourite 
living poets, began to feel the glow of authorfhip 
fteal over him as h\e friends awarded him a per- 
haps too plentiful meed of praife ; and thinking, 
or wifhing to do the world fome fervice, he determined to enlarge 
upon his firft defign, and affume the grave " we" of authorfhip. 
He now determined to dam up to and ftorm the very citadel 
of Poefy, and feeling that fome reft and change would be necef- 
fary for his readers as well as himfelf, he refolved to throw into 
his work fome fmall patches of perfonal intereft and adventure, 
which would refemble the feats under green fhady avenues, {o 
refreftiing to the heated and funburnt traveller, and which might 
fit: them for another march through the realms of criticifm, myf- 
ticifm, or differtation. 

Afcent of Mangerton. 

THE morning fun threw its cheering beams on the enchant- 
ing lakes and mountains around. 
Julian rofe, and as his delighted eyes traverfed their beauties, 
they at laft refted on that mountain which fo many happy ad- 



36 ASCENT OF MJNGERTON. 

venturers had afcended from time immemorial, whofe bodies 
were now duft, and lay far below its fummit, but many of whofe 
souls were now fcaling the far loftier heights of heaven ! 

He could plainly difcern a flight path trickling down its huge 
fhoulders, and by that path he determined that day to reach its 
lofty fcalp. 

This mountain (if we may truft the legends, and who dare 
doubt them ? ) has the honour of being the fummer refidence of 
his Satanic Majefty, near the fummit of which lies, hidden to 
mortals beneath, his huge '" Punch-bowl," which fact led Julian 
to fufpedT: that he might alfo occafionally dei^n to pay it a vifit 
during the cold winter feafon, to warm himfelf with a fly dram, 
for how could he drink punch in the hot fummer weather, being 
himfelf proverbially, of a rather warm temperament ? 

Having procured a gallant freed, which appeared for many rea- 
fons a defcendant of Don Quixote's renowned Rofinante, he foon 
reached the mountain's bafe. 

On commencing the rugged afcent, up ftarted, as though indi- 
genous to the fpot, a fhort grotefque little figure, whofe apology 
for a hat was inflantly doffed and expofed a head which, with its 
grifly hair, refembled one of the numerous ftones lying around 
furmounted with ftunted grafs, and a good-humoured voice with 
the " raal" Irifh accent proceeding from it. 

The cogent reafons given by that quaint little figure for taking 
a guide, " this could, blake, winther's day," in which the words 
" dangerous" and u benighted" often recurred, combined with 
the revelation that it was no other than the renowned and gallant 
u Captain Kidd" (alias " the Son of the Goat") who addrefTed 
him, induced Julian to fecure his condefcending fervices, and up 
they went together. 



ASCENT OF MANGERTON. 37 

Long and tedious was the fteep and rugged afcent, the path 
(as the Captain, by way of compliment, chofe to call it) being 
guttered and torn by the winter ftorms. Huge ftones lay in cha- 
otic confufion and profufion around, and at laft compelled Julian 
to part company with his ftumbling and jolting fteed, which a 
ragged and importuning little " equerry in waiting" took charge 
of, and away on foot ftumbled himfelfand guide through the con- 
fufed realms of gorfe, heather, broken rocks, and loofe ftones. 

And now the ragged fkirts of the firft cloud fwept paft them 
partially hiding the world below ; up they toiled, now {tumbling, 
now ankle deep in water, and again finking into thofe treacher- 
ous bogs. 

At laft u The Devil's Punch-bowl" was reached, and fitting 
down on its brink by the " Bachelor's Well," which fuggefted 
many forgotten ideas, enveloped with denfe flying clouds, they 
mixed its delicious waters with their " raal potheen," as the Cap- 
tain pronounced it to be, who as they fat on their cold feat, in 
that wildly grand region, related many a fhred of a " dhroul ould 
ftory and laagend." 

Being refrefhed, they fet off at a canter up through the clouds, 
till they reached the higheft point, where a heap of ftones had 
been raifed by previous adventurers, which Julian piled up, and 
making the " Kid" plant his fmall legs thereon, afcended his 
back and gave three cheers for his beloved Queen, which the 
mountain echoes repeated. 

This feat accomplifhed, Julian fent back his wild guide, with 
inftructions to wait below. 

The damp clouds had drenched him, and dew-drops cluftered 
like diamonds on his uncovered and flying hair. Still the bleak 



38 ASCENT OF MANGERTON. 

mountain winds, the driving clouds, and the great elevation, gave 
him a fierce and invigorating delight. 

Mift both within and without ! his mind had ever been fwept 
by the clouds of myfticifrn, and now he felt the clofe refemblance 
between it and the furrounding cloudland. 

Save, at intervals, the wild fhouts of the fhrieking winds, grave- 
like filence hung around that wild region ; — but the Babel-like 
confufion of his thoughts within was diftinctly audible to his 
fpiritual ear. Sitting on the precipice which overhangs the 
" Devil's Punch-bowl " far beneath, he now caught fitful glimpfes 
of the black and fearful looking waters of that mountain tarn, 
which reminded him of the dark glimpfes he occasionally caught 
of the fearful gulf of life, as he had witnefTed it through the breaks 
of his mental mifts. 

The denfe. clouds fwept like frantic ghofts, purfued by the 
howling and fierce winds through the fearful chafm ; — and now, 
another break, but through it the funlight fell over and gilded 
the deep fmiling world below, refembling a faint's holy vifion of 
Heaven ! 

A wild legion of thoughts now fwept like the Egyptian fwarm 
of locufts through his mind, which darkened all outward objects, 
and threw him into a ftate of deep reverie ! 

What thofe thoughts were, the world may perhaps fome day 
know. 

The found of a bugle now Struggled through the clouds to his 
ear, and awoke the fpirit-like voices of the echoing mountains, 
and with them his own mind. 

A deep feeling of boundlefs love and reverence towards his 
Majeftic Creator filled his mind, and formed a heartfelt, though 



ASCENT OF MJNGERTON. 39 

unuttered prayer and thankfgiving. Standing alone in this denfe 
and lofty folitude, with his eyes call heavenwards, how can words 
exprefs his elevated feelings and afpirations ? 

Plucking a fprig of the white heather, as a memento of this 
adventure, for his diftant but beloved fifter, the fairy bells of 
the flowers cluttering around the graceful ftalk like the filver 
Pleiads,— he defcended, found his kind-hearted and attentive lit- 
tle guide patiently waiting below, and not forgetting that the 
" Captain" had little elfe but his title to live upon that cold 
winter feafon, he fent him away, who, in return, poured an over- 
powering volley of compliments and blefiings into him, the weight 
of which perhaps accounted for the many falfe fteps of his de- 
votional fleed, which feemed inclined to prove itfelf as devout in 
defcending as he himfelf felt on the fummit of the mountain. 

Evening was throwing her fhadowy fcarf over the enchanting 
fcena below, as he folitarily defcended that wild mountain, whofe 
rugged and defolate foreground appeared a bold fimile of the 
bleak and rocky path of Life ; — but the ftars were juft twinkling 
through the heavens overhead, — and far below gleamed the lovely 
lakes, and glimmer'd the dim and dream-like beauties of Earth, 
and thefe forefhadowed the glories of Heaven, whofe grandeur 
amply atoned for and overbalanced this fhort path of gloom. 

The teeming thoughts, fuggefted by the grand natural fcenery 
and phenomena he had that day witneiTed whilft. flowly and con- 
templatively defcending, will never be forgotten by Julian ! 






CHAPTER VI. 



Notices of various Poets. 




OPING he had given, by the preceding flight fketch, 
fuificient refpite, Julian again dived into the throng 
of Poets, of various nations, whofe names followed, 
without the flighteft attempt at order or arrange- 
ment, even as they moved acrofs the aforefaid illumined difc of 
his mind. 

He held formal parterres in abomination, but loved the delight- 
ful confufion with which Nature fcatters her flowers of various 
hues and fcents. So leaving any who quarrelled with the difarrav 
of his poet flowers, to blame, and fettle it with Nature for fug- 
gefting the idea, he continued thus — 

(To mow we are not quite of the Goth genus, though fo 
deeply attached to Nature and primeval fimplicity of manners, 
we will introduce the ladies firft.') 



HEMANS* — -Her quill fell from the gorgeous wings of the 
Bird of Paradife, and was dipped in moonlight, with which fhe 



HEMJNS. — L.E.L. 41 

wrote thofe thoughts which are as the delicious waftings of jaf- 
mine, mignonette, and the richeft rofe. More refrefhing are they 
to the weary pilgrim of life's arid defert than the cool rich milk 
and lufcious kernel of the cocoa-nut, found in fome fertile oafis. 

Her poetry is one of the pureft gems locked in the world's 
wealthy cafket of Imagination. She foftens all hearts by her 
exquifite beauty ; lofty and low minds love her equally, for fhe 
is the dear fifter of all mankind. 

Her richly-flowing fancies referable a gracefully waving caf- 
cade fteeped in moonlight, whofe waters, after darting through, 
refrefhing, and delighting lofty romantic minds, flow calmly away 
through the fmiling valleys of more meek and humble fouls, yet 
beftowing an equally cooling, and beneficial influence on all. 

L. E. L. (Miss Landon.) — Our Englifh Sappho. Her 
mind was a golden urn filled with lufcioufly fcented rofe-leaves, 
but, alas ! the breath of life was not there. Her heart was a 
crufhed rofe-leaf, yet giving forth from that bruifing the richeft 
fragrance of penfive Poefy. 

She lived in the world as in a lone gloomy cavern, and fcarcely 
faw through its twilight the flowers that bloomed around. Her 
imagination (and fhe was all imagination) feafting only on thofe 
entwined by the dewy fingers of Memory and Fancy, the tearful 
dews of twilight lay thick upon them, and fhe fickened and died 
through excefs of fragrance ; for, however delicious the breath of 
flowers, it is, alas ! alfo true, that, in too great a profufion, it is 
poifonous, and bears on its pinions the angel of death ! 

Thus, then, did L. E. L. breathe her laft ; and bitter tears of 
love fell faft and watered the flowers o'er her early grave ! 



42 DANTE, 

Like Sappho me fang of paflionate love ; like Sappho me 
paved the way to, and dropped into, an untimely and tragical 
grave ! 

DANTE. — Though we fhall fpeak in higher terms elfewhere 
of this great poet (linked with the names of Milton and Pollok), 
we mention him here firft, to condemn one portion of his 
mighty epic. 

He is a malignant demon in his " Inferno," a purblind man 
in his " Purgatorio," but a dazzling feraph in his " Paradifo." 

The vile ufe he made of the darker portion of the ChriiHan 
revelations in his, " Inferno," by forging from them bitter and 
curfed weapons of fatire againfl his enemies, proves that either 
he or the age he lived in had a very low appreciation of the real 
fpirit of Chriilianity, which commands us to forgive our ene- 
mies, blefs them that curfe us, do good to them that hate us, 
and pray for thofe who defpitefully ufe us and perfecute us ! 
What noble maxims are thefe, and how lamentably far has 
Dante fallen below them in his " Inferno ! " 

A man pofTefling fuch grand, God-given powers, finking them 
fo low as to gloat over the moll horrible ideal tortures they had 
invented for his enemies, mufl: have been greatly influenced by 
the opinions of the age in which he lived ; and when we fur- 
vey the Italian, or rather Florentine, hiftory of his time, we are 
willing to acknowledge that it was the age in which he lived, 
that wrote his " Inferno" and " Purgatorio" through the me- 
dium of his hand. 

AKENSIDE. — The bard of Imagination who fang the 
" pleafures" of his goddefs. 



JKENSIDE — BURNS. 43 

He is the pioneer of young and wildly imaginative minds, 
who wifh to prefent their daring flights to the world, by his 
having cut down many of the abfurd prejudices againft fuch a 
ftyle of poetry, and by mowing imaginative to be oftentimes as 
inftru&ive and of quite as high a clafs as purely didactic poetry. 

Though his works appear in many parts as if ftruck off in a 
fit of infpiration, they were moft carefully and tedioufly com- 
pofed, which arofe, doubtlefs, from the difficulty of confining 
within proper limits the outpourings of his fervid fancy. 

His imagination was, however, too fiery and reftive to yoke 
itfelf to the cumbrous car of any great narrative or epic poem, 
fo fpent its energies in darting up and down the firmament of 
fancy like playful and fitful lightning. There is a fharp-cut 
beauty and originality about his conceptions that etches itfelf on 
the minds of his admirers. 

His great poem, c < The Pleafures of the Imagination," refem- 
bles the item of a wide-fpreading vine, covered with frefh green 
leaves and with occafional clutters of the moft tempting purple 
grapes peeping from beneath their emerald covert. 

BURNS. — The naturally-taught fon of genius, who honoured 
the patriotic Caledonia with his birth. 

With all his venial faults as a man, he is univerfally beloved 
as a poet, for his natural fimplicity of heart joined with his affec- 
tion for nature and his fellow-men. 

His poetry has a ftraightforward manly ftrength, which capti- 
vates all who efteem truthfulnefs more than ingenioufly-twifted 
ideas and artificial paflion. 

He difdained to make a mountebank of himfelf and ftrut in 



44 COLERIDGE. 

ftilts, fo kept near the earth and elevated thofe beauties which 
others, with far lefs power and genius, paiTed fcornfully over. 

He is the moft ftriking example of the fuperiority of genius 
over wealth, rank, and all mere worldly-acquired honours ; for 
when the memory of thofe who lolled in blazoned chariots and 
dwelt in palaces (whilft he was tormented by the hungry-eyed 
demon, Poverty) mail, with their bodies, have crumbled to dull, 
his name mail be a " houfehold word." 

COLERIDGE. — Never did a foul of a loftier poetical build 
fail calmly over the ftreams of time. His life was one thought- 
ful and imaginative dream, which the ufe of the narcotic drug 
(opium) did not by any means difturb. 

One of Turner's moft delicious and moft myftical moonlights, 
hangs over and filvers his poetical vifions. 

Who does not regret the general fragmentary or half-develop- 
ed ftyle of many of his compofitions ? and that he has not left us 
a more plentiful banquet ? (Though certainly thofe viands which 
he has fupplied are of the choiceft and coftlieft defcription ! ) 

If any one can read his noble tragedy, a Remorfe," without 
feeling deeply moved and elevated by the god-like generofity of 
Alvar's foul, let him be cautious ever afterwards how he " fets 
his foot upon a worm," for it is a near relation of his ! 

His univerfal love was boundlefs as fpace, and his moral and 
religious fentiments were of the loftieft clafs ; nor do we fear, in 
opening his pages — though before unread — of meeting with any 
pafTage that may not be openly read to, and eagerly drank in by, 
pure feminine ears ! 

In profe as well as poetry he mightily excelled, and in both he 



ROGERS. 45 

proves how well he underftood and tried to execute his minion, 
by endeavouring to exalt and inftruct mankind, and by incul- 
cating all noble and generous fentiments. 

Would that he had pofTeffed an attentive Bofwell to have 
faved his glorious converfations from oblivion ! — and would that, 
inftead of much mere dreaming, he had left us a few more of his 
vifions of thought. 

We thank God, however, for what He did enable his fervant 
to bequeath, and hope to meet our beloved friend in the World 
of Spirits ! 

ROGERS. — Who has ever read the works of this noble- 
hearted poet, without their having produced a grateful and re- 
frefhing influence, or without their fiercer paflions being foft- 
ened and calmly elevated ? — None, furely ! 

Who has not felt that a loving brother is converfing with him 
when perufing his " Pleafures of Memory;" or that a chafte 
fon of nature, with a claffically-moulded mind, is their guide 
through " Italy ? " 

He has not written much, certainly, when we furvey his long 
life ; — but we feel that a deeply pure and noble, an unoften- 
tatioufly-kind and loving fpirit, has dictated every line with 
which he has blefled the world. 

This poet's kindnefs and fympathy of heart are as deeply felt 
in his writings, as they have been difplayed in his life. He has 
not attempted a flight into any wild imaginative regions, but he 
has fought, and fuccefs fully, to throw flowers of beauty over the 
rugged paths of man, and the ruins o'er which the Paft has 
ftalked and mattered with his deftruc~tive heel ! • 



46 SCOTT. 

SCOTT. — The potent wizard of Romance, at the waving 
of whofe wand come trooping on the ftage of life again the 
noble fons and daughters of the age of chivalry. Gallant 
knights and " fayre ladyes," — foaming chargers and fplendid 
tournaments, — flaming armour and blazoned fhields, — love and 
revenge, — haughty caftles, and gorgeous banquets, — love, wine, 
and revelry, — all rife up and float athwart our mental fight, till 
the pair. — no longer a dead blank — ftands in more than its 
former beauty and fplendour before us ! 

Thanks to thee, thou noble and generous enchanter ! We 
thank thee for thy kindly feeling towards the princely fpirit of 
the dead age of chivalry, and for endeavouring to awake by its 
example a little generous fire in the cold breafts of modern days. 

The fierce and curfed modern love of gold,* and bafe prof- 
tration to wealth, was unknown in thofe days ; a nobler and 
more generous fpirit was then abroad. 

The world was not then worried by bafe and felfifh drofs- 
hunters ; but the noble feelings of the heart were the riches 
they fought ! 

Scott is too widely known and beloved for us to notice him 
further. 

YOUNG. — This grand but gloomy poet might, or ought^ to 
have written that which he has left to the world before the 
Chriftian era ; — before the intenfe irradiations of hope, (hooting 



* For inftance, the Golden Lecturefhip, King Hudfon mania, and Reli- 
gion generally become faleable, &c. 



rOUNG. 47 

from (o fmiling a revelation of man's certain immortality and 
future ftate of blifs, threw a fhower of cheering beams over the 
before dark and ignorantly groping mental world. 

A knowledge of, and belief in, fuch revelation makes the 
prefent Life appear to a generous and well-balanced mind as 
the flower-garden of his fpirit's childhood, through which it 
roams, gathering ftrength and lovely thoughts to enliven its path 
to the fpirit-world. Had Young been a heathen philofopher, 
we might have expected fome of the denfe gloom that deluges 
his works. 

We fear that difappointed worldly ambition was the chief 
root of the melancholy yew tree that o'erfhadows his pages. 

Some years back, at the deferted ruins of the Abbey of 
Aghadoe, a poor wretched woman collected the broken coffin 
boards that are fo ruthlefsly fcattered about its deferted burying- 
ground, built herfelf a hut therewith, and there, furrounded by 
the expofed and thick-ftrewn emblems of mortality (the fkulls 
and bones of the departed), (he dwelt, till Death added her 
relics to his rich hoards which were piled around. Her mifera- 
ble hut then fell, and thus ended her deathly life. 

Young built himfelf a mental coffin hutj lived and died 
therein ; but bequeathed to the fufficiently-wretched fons of 
mortality, the thoughts engendered by his gloomy connection 
with deathly fubjects. 

That his mind was capable of engendering the grandeft con- 
ceptions, we do not difpute : but knowing this, we are led to 
regret the more, that earthly difappointments mould have 
dragged it to the darkeft fcenes, inftead of buoying it up to the 
grandeft regions of faith, hope, and happinefs. 



48 TOUNG. 

We alfo admit the exiftence in his works of many lofty 
thoughts and noble conceptions, which being thrown up on a 
gloomy background gleam forth more brilliantly — even as a 
black and ftagnant pool reflects more clearly the lofty fparkling 
ftars. 

Mifanthropy is not poetry ; and darknefs and defpondency, 
however finely pictured, are deathblows to, or deaden greatly, 
the nobleft afpirations of man. 

Had not Young been a profeffing Chriftian, (and a Chriftian 
minifter withal ! ) we mould have treated him more gently ; but 
we feel it due to the Chriftian religion to fay, that it is the anni- 
hilator of darknefs, defpair, and mifery, to thofe who truly 
believe in it ; and herein is a ftriking proof of its power. 

Still, with a certain clafs of minds, his works, we truft 
(though they have caft a gloom o'er all things for a time), have 
produced feeds of a deeply-religious growth, which have faved 
them from the pitfalls of worldly pride, and from building all 
their hopes on this earth's unftable foundation. 

There is a majefty about many of his thoughts, and the grand 
imagery in which he arrays them, which annihilates forgetful- 
nefs. 

All minds are not influenced by Hope ! Some require the 
lower but oftentimes more powerful incentive of fear, to com- 
mand their avoidance of the fnares of the world. To fuch 
minds Young does not often vainly appeal. 

His mind was of a colofTal build, and we muft caft a tear of 
regret over his memory, that the difappointments to which he 
was a prey chilled his nobleft powers. 

Sorrow and defpondency, however, give a double zeft to 



COWPER. 49 

Hope, when fhe arrives attended with her angelic train of fmil- 
ing bleffings. 

COWPER. — This is the bard of common fenfe, the enco- 
miaft of all noble fentiments fpringing from either moral or reli- 
gious foils. 

When we look at the manly vigour, at the generous and 
hopeful fpirit pervading his works, and then remember the mife- 
ries, both mental and phyfical, which clung to, and gnawed away 
his existence, we hail his name with the greater! admiration ! 

We have placed him immediately after Young to mow the 
different influence that the Chriftian religion, when purely be- 
lieved in, had on a noble though diftrefled mind — diftrefTed infi- 
nitely more than Young's in many ways. We would alfo fay 
here, that Cowper underftood his duty as a Poet far better, for 
though his own mind was often darkly clouded and miferable, 
flill he wifhed not to make his forrows thofe of every breaft. He 
is a noble example of a faithful Chriftian, and a proof of reli- 
gion's elevating and foothing influence over diftrefs. 

He had great verfatility of talent, and his genius and powers 
of fatire were fuch, that (if backed by a vigorous phyfical orga- 
nization and fanguine temperament) would have forced Vice to 
have crawled from her high places, and to have fhrouded her 
foul, flimy, ferpent's head, in duft and darknefs. 

WILSON. — He is the bard of fweet romantic dreams and 
fancies. His foul is a lovely azure haze ftreaked by golden 
funbeams, through which the beauties of nature and of the 
human fympathies ftream as through a prifm, lending to the 

E 



50 WILSON— MIL MAN. 

cold white light of common obfervation the glowing colours of 
the rainbow. 

His " Ifle of Palms" is a golden ifle in the fapphire fea of 
Imagination, clothed with beauty and lovelinefs, and with fil- 
very clouds of the pureft human affections overcanopying it. 

There is a fearful earneflnefs and reality about his " City of 
the Plague" which fhows the vigour of his genius. 

He is a fine example of a paffionate and enthufiaflic poet, 
robed — notwithstanding fuch fiery qualities — in the garments of 
Purity and Religion, and taming down his impulfive tempera- 
ment to give a friendly help to the car of human progrefs. 

He loved the old Ocean as a father, and many lovely defcrip- 
tions of it occur in his works. 

MILMAN. — We are furprifed that this poet is not more 
univerfally known by his countrymen ! 

There is an oriency of colour about his imagination that dyes 
every object upon which it falls with the richeft tints. Or it 
may be compared to the richly-ftained window of fome dim ca- 
thedral, which throws on every fpot or figure over which the 
light patting through it falls, a moil heavenly and faintly glory. 

His u Fall of Jerufalem" has a frefh breezy beauty and de- 
lightfulnefs about it, joined with a vigorous action, that carries 
us on a bold, rapid ftream to its conclufion. 

His other poems fhow great command of powerful and yet 
claffical language, a chafte elegance of thought, a profufion of 
glowing imagery, and a vigorous manly fpirit, that do him 
honour both as a man and a Chriftian minifter. 

Would that many of his brother clergymen whom we could 



SCHILLER. 51 

name followed his example, and gave us a fmall portion of his 
beauty, manlinefs, and originality , in their works; for though 
they write profe (and, thank God, they do not often attempt 
poetry), it is not abfolutely neceflary that they mould be prosy ! 

SCHILLER. — As bold, determined, and renowned a poet in 
Germany, as Byron in Britain 5 but taking a univerfal inftead of 
an individual view of the world ; and, inflead of wafting his days 
in felfifh mifanthropy, throwing all his heart and foul into the 
progreffion and happinefs of his fellow-men. 

He is one of whom his country may be juftly proud : a more 
elevated, and enthufiaftic poet never enlightened the world. 

His daring tragedy, " The Robbers," though written with 
much of the unwife impetuofity of youth, contains many noble 
fentiments, and tremendous ftrength of expreffion. 

Never did a poet fo nobly and unceafingly ftrive, from his 
youth up to his lateft breath, to elevate and inftrucT: mankind ; 
and the fearlefs way, defpite all oppofition, with which he threw 
his thoughts before the world commands our higheft admira- 
tion. 

There was no ftilted grandeur and falfe-feeming about Schiller ; 
his genius was far too great and powerful to need, and he far 
too proud to ufe them. 

His ballads are of the higheft order, with a fine moral in the 
heart of each. His well-known one, " The Diver," is magnifi- 
cent, and the moft powerful ever written. (Bulwer's translation 
of this is a mafterpiece.) 

Would that we were never without a Schiller in the world, to 
throw his fire and life into its progreflive movements ! 



52 BOWLES — SOUTHET. 

BOWLES. — A penfive bard, who looked at the world with 
moift and hazy eyes, and thought the damp fadnefs lay in the 
world, inftead of on his own ocular lenfes. 

There is, however, much to be admired in his works, which 
are fuffufed with the kindlieft fympathies. 

" The Grave of the Laft Saxon" is a fine collection of word- 
painted pictures ; the graphic fketches of natural fcenes, and bold 
delineations of human character, make this poem refemble a no- 
ble picture gallery. 

The finely-fketched character of William the Conqueror, and, 
above all, the night fcene in the dark ftorm-riven foreft, with 
the impreffive night funeral of poor Harold, are moft diftinctly 
and finely pourtrayed. 

This poem will be read by all Englifhmen with inftructive 
delight ! 

SOUTHEY. — A fort of mytho- and theological rag gatherer, 
who was ever feeking after the creeds, new or tattered, fcattered 
over the face of the globe. 

He had a moft powerful and brilliant imagination— (which ex- 
panded his works a little too much, and made them too corpu- 
lent) — a moft original ftyle of verification, that called forth the 
anathemas of the " Fadladeens " of his time, and the moft fturdy 
independence of foul, which enabled him to bear up againft the 
tide of raillery till it had expended itfelf. 

He had a broad and powerful intellect, which enabled him 
to grafp great themes boldly, and carried him dry-fhod through 
all the ftreams of myfticifm and fuperftition pouring from the 



MARLOWE. 53 

Eaft, Greece, and Germany, to the firm ground of Chriftian 
belief. 

His example, as a firm believer in the Chriftian revelation, 
notwithftanding his ponderous weight of learning, wifdom, re- 
fearch, and great mental powers, mould not be forgotten by thofe 
fmaller minds that rail againft it. 

" The Curfe of Kehama" is a mighty and well-fuftained flight, 
and is valuable not only for its own high merits, but for the teem- 
ing thoughts on the loftieft fubjects, which it fuggefts to the ima- 
ginative and enlightened reader. 

MARLOWE.— His " Doaor Fauftus" is a terribly earneft 
and a powerful tragedy, which is now looked upon as a fpecimen 
of the exciting but lower fpecies of drama. 

It mows tremendous vigour both of imagination and language. 

The higheft minds know that fome vague and mifty terror 
produces a deeper thrill of dread and horror than a diftinc~tly 
pourtrayed fcene, where nothing is left to the uncertain doubts 
and undefined fears of the imagination. 

When devils are made to ftalk in their own dark livery before 
our eyes as diftincTily embodied fhapes, there is a low fpecies of 
animal inftead of high fpiritual dread, which debafes rather than 
exalts or inftru£b mankind. 

His other works, though they are fprinkled with fine pafTages, 
are moftly over coloured, (or daubed, as artifts would fay,) and 
are frequently fwathed in the folds of bombaft and rant. 

MOORE. — The embodied foul of Melody, and the patriotic 
fon of Erin. 



54 MOORE. 

The Oriental glow of his imagery, the melodioufnefs of his 
verfe, the elegance of his language, and the ardour of his paffion- 
ate love fongs, would lead us to fuppofe (did we not know other- 
wife) that he was cradled in Perfia, and trained by Hafiz himfelf. 

The " Arabian Nights," which he devoured eagerly when 
young, had doubtlefs a great influence over his poetical genius. 

His collecting the dying airs of his native land, and prefenting 
them to the care of the world through the medium of his lovely 
verfes, was a noble achievement, and has been enthufiaftically 
rewarded. 

Some of his earlier poems were a little too glowing, and we 
are happy to fee that he has not given them a place in the laft 
complete edition of his works, and that, if they have an exiftence 
at all, it is a precarious and outlawed one. 

What can exceed the lofty beauty of the " Loves of the An- 
gels," the opening of which is fuperb, and carries us high above 
the Earth, at a bound. 

" Paradife and the Peri," an epifode in " Lalla Rookh," fteeped 
in lofty religious fimplicity and purity; and "The Epicurean" 
(which is poetry clothed in the garments of profe), the molt 
lovely and elegant tale conceivable, by their religious tendency, 
will amply atone for the faults of any of his early efrufions. 

His noble veneration for the memory of poor Byron, and the 
proof of his true friendihip after death had parted them, together 
with his manly fentiments, and hatred of cant and falfe-feeming, 
have endeared his name to thoufands. 

May God blefs his latter end, and relieve him from the pangs 
of gnawing difeafe, which we fear will otherwife foon deprive the 
world of its love-ftar's light ! 



LANDOR — HOOD. 55 

LANDOR (W. S.) — A learned man who has written po- 
etry, but he was too coldly wife and fteeped in learning to poffefs 
at the fame time the fine, free, darning foul of a great Poet. 

His " Gebir" is a ilrange myftical fort of poem, which, as 
Southey almoll adored, and Shelley admired it, muft contain 
greater beauties than we have as yet difcovered. Perhaps it is 
our diflike to rigidly and coldly precife compofitions, that pre- 
vents our enthufiafm. 

His " Imaginary Converfations" we admire far more than his 
poetry. 

HOOD. — Poor Hood ! who does not honour thy name, thou 
man of the moll oppofite qualities, wit and pathos, yet brightly 
excellent in each ! 

Whoever knows thy works loves thee deeply and pities thy 
unfortunate lot. How could the World let its moll loving and 
feeling fon die in fuch utter poverty ? 

Hood's poems of wit are the drolleft, and his poems of fympathy 
on behalf of his fuffering and forgotten fellow-creatures are the 
moll deeply touching, yea, harrowing, in their noble earnellnefs, 
ever written. 

Who, knowing even his well-known " Song of the Shirt," and 
" Bridge of Sighs," can ever ceafe to deluge his name with en- 
dearing epithets ? Our tears now, and we become all heart ! 

Let the prefent age do that jullice to his memory which may 
partly atone for his forrows and neglect when living ! 

The world Ihould never be without a Hood, to fing the forrows 
of the wretched and forlorn, and appeal to their more fortunate 
brethren in their behalf! 



56 GRAT— COLLINS. 

GRAY and COLLINS.— The two elegant and chafte Poets 
of Britain, who have given us the leaft in quantity, but as much 
as any in quality. 

Gray's " Churchyard Elegy" is unequalled in delicacy of fen- 
timent, originality, harmony of rhythm, and pure affection. The 
love and high eftimate of fimplicity, which is an attribute of 
every true Poet, is evidenced as ftrongly in this one little poem 
as in all others put together. 

Noble fimplicity is a proof of true greatnefs whether found in 
literature or in the heart of man. Gray was abundantly endowed 
with this quality, notwithstanding his occafional affectations, 
both in compofition, and conduct. 

Defpite what certain modern and coxcombical lecturers fay in 
condemnation of Gray's expreffive lines, 

" Full many a flower is born to blufh unfeen, 
And wafte its fweetnefs on the defert air " 

we maintain their kindly and feelingly expreffed truth, for how 
many would beam forth brightly, if ignorance, difeafe, or other 
numerous circumftances, had not quenched their light ! 

Had not fuch men have fcraped together a fmall hoard of 
muddy fame, they would gladly have flieltered themfelves under 
the loving fhadow of his winged words ! 

Collins' fine " Ode on the Paffions" can never be forgotten 
or unadmired whilfl men are poffeffed of minds, or till the World 
wheels up with her children to the judgment-feat of God ! 

His fame hangs (like a golden leaf on a lofty branch) chiefly 
upon this magnificent ode, the graphic power and exquifite beauty 
of which we fear will never be equalled. 

He, however, forfook the real for the ideal world fo much that 



POPE. 57 

he at laft became an unfit denizen of the former, the confe- 
quence of which was infanity. 

POPE. — This poet collected the wifdom of his day, and 
through the means of the apteft imagery brought it down to the 
comprehenfion of even the young fchool-boy. 

His " EfTay on Man" is a nobly 'instructive poem, painting 
the foolifhnefs of man's vain repinings in ftrong colours. He 
was a powerful and rather fpiteful fatirift. 

Still we like not the general glitter of his ftyle, which refem- 
bles the factitious gleams of divers-coloured broken glafs, more 
than of pure gems. His verfification refembles, by its extreme 
polifh, a ftream of quickfilver which runs through the mind in- 
ftead of depofiting the wifdom it contains therein. 

A Poet's thoughts mould refemble burs that may ftick to and 
irritate the mind when thrown into it till they have produced 
thought and attention. 

Similes drawn from natural objects are filled with frefh and 
burfling life, and take deep root in the mind, but drawn from 
dead artificial objects, like many of Pope's, they but amufe the 
fancy at the firft fight, and then their commonnefs and lifelefT- 
nefs difgufts. The firft are drawn from the works of God, and 
have confequently an innate grandeur or beauty — but the latter, 
being drawn from the imperfect works of man, are feeble, ephe- 
meral, and ineffective in comparifon. 

Pope's " EfTay on Man" is, however, a noble work, and has 
been tranflated into moft European languages. 

BEATTIE. — Let the world, now fcience is taking fuch gi- 



58 BEJTTIE — GOLDSMITH. 

gantic leaps, not forget Beattie's truly noble little poem, " The 
Hermit," which of itfelf would be fufficient to float his name 
down the tide of ages. Would that every bewildered votary of 
fcience and knowledge might have as bright and comforting a 
conclufion to his feverifh chafe after the ignis-fatuus-like con- 
jectures of his own excited mind, as that hermit ! 

His " Minftrel" is a fine fpecimen of the confluence of the 
highly-claflical and deeply-natural ftreams of poefy. It is draped 
in the garments of moft beautiful and appropriate imagery, of 
wifdom, and of love. 

He has written comparatively little poetry, but that is of the 
firft water. 

GOLDSMITH. — This generous man was all heart, and is 
undoubtedly the moft univerfally beloved Britifh Poet. People 
of every age and ftamp look with loving reverence on his name. 

He took not his flights merely for a favoured few, but for the 
edification of all. The gufhing feelings of his own warm heart 
draw thofe of all others into their ftrongly-flowing ftream, and 
the frofty-hearted man who fets out with him, having a wintry 
coldnefs around and within him, finds ere long that the genial 
fummer heat has thawed his ice, and brought the frefh fprings 
of latent kindnefs to the light. 

His poetry flows gracefully as a calm but ftrong-flowing and 
enriching river, not in an artificial embankment like Pope's but 
with a pleafant natural murmur ; and its banks are cluftered with 
fragrant nodding flowers. 

Several well-known pafTages from his larger poems, with which 
every noble-hearted fchool-boy is enamoured, are more forcibly 



CRJBBE — CHATTERTON. 59 

appealing to our kindlier! fympathies, than any we are acquainted 
with in the whole realms of poetry. 

Goldfmith was not, nor wifhed to be, as a flaming, fparkling 
diamond, but a foftly gleaming pearl, which he was. 

But when the world deluges his name with bleffings, why 
mould we do more than add ours ? 

Crabbe^ Chatterton^ Croly. 

CRABBE.— The bard who eflayed to fing « the fhort and 
iimple annals of the poor," but generally contrived to make them 
rather too long, infomuch that he who ftarts with him muft take 
in a prodigious flock of patience. 

The lives and adventures of one or two ideal Jacks and Bet- 
tys are enough as examples, by any one poet ; the world looks 
for fomething higher than a continual repetition of fuch themes, 
the fimplicity of which it confiders but affectation when over- 
done. 

Still, thofe who can tame themfelves down to walk through 
Crabbe's fimple meadows, will receive the benefit of the refrefli- 
ing breezes of poefy that continually come wafting over them. 

CHATTERTON.— A grand lightning bolt, that burft and 
deftroyed itfelf as foon as it left the clouds (of imagination) and 
touched the chilly earth. He would have made a mighty poet 
had he lived. Without entering into the merits of the Rowley 
controverfy at length, let us merely draw this leffon from his 
unhappy fate, — that wherever Genius defcends to the pits of 
Falfehood, that the gnawing demons of Self-Contempt, and Dif- 



60 CROLT— BRYANT— KIRKEWHITE. 

guff, feize the victim as their lawful prey, — until Repentance, or 
Suicide relieve the poor wretch from his mifery. 

CROLY. — A Chriftian poet with a powerful genius, which 
throws a funfet fplendour over all it falls upon. 

There are many magnificent pafTages in his poems. The re- 
treat from Mofcow is as finely pictured as anything in " Childe 
Harold;" and his " Chrift's Entry into Jerufalem" brings the 
lovely fcene boldly before the eyes of the moft unimaginative. 

Strength and power of both imagination and language, filtered 
through a pure religious medium, conflitute him one of the 
fineft poets of the nineteenth century. 

BRYANT.— The American Gray. His mild and claffically 
elegant poetry is deeply fuffufed with the fpiritual meanings of 
Nature, and the child-like love he bears her. Though now an 
old man, he is ftill young in mind, for he has never left Nature's 
fide ; but looked up to her expreflive and loving eyes with filial 
affection. She has rewarded him for it, as me will all thofe who 
truly love her, with the elixir of eternal youth. 

His poetry, like his heart, will never grow old ; and his hope- 
ful and religious fpirit fhall long be efteemed, fink into, and give 
a youthful glow to many a poor, weary foul. 

KIRKEWHITE. — A mournful yew tree, bathed in the 
glooms of night, dropping his blood-red berries, or drops of me- 
lancholic agony over the, to him, tomb-like world. 

Ill health and fcepticifm, joined with over application, were 
the roots of this gloom ; and when the clouds of doubt cleared 



MONTGOMERY. 61 

away, and the fun of revelation burft upon his dazzled eyes, his 
body had become too weak to allow him to feel and fing the full 
fplendour of its hopefulnefs. 

He had a noble fpirit, which would have become a mighty 
one, if time, health, and happinefs, had fully matured it. 

The beauty and humility of fentiment in his noble " Ode on 
Difappointment" prove how great and deep a mind it proceeded 
from j and his fragment " Time" — boldly declares that we loft 
by his untimely death one who would have been the grandeft 
poet of his generation. 

MONTGOMERY (JAMES).— A univerfally-beloved poet 
of the Goldfmith genus. 

His patriotic and philanthropic principles caft a halo around 
his name and illume his works. His poems againft flaverv are 
the breathings of a noble and free-born foul. 

There are many pafTages in " The Weft Indies" of furpaffing 
lovelinefs, and which have often brought tears to our eyes. 

In his " Greenland," the defcriptions of nature in that clime 
are often magnificent. The mountainous icebergs fwim dif- 
tinctly and flafh their light before our mental fight, and there is 
an icy clearnefs and frefhnefs about the whole. The wondrous 
fuperftitions of that ignorant country are finely and graphically 
told, and we feel, whilft perufing this fine poem (even though it 
be in fummer), a cold but bracing atmofphere enveloping us, fo 
ftrong is its effecl: on the imagination. 

But as he is beloved by every child who knows his works 
(and who does not ?) as well as " children of an older growth," 
we will only add our bleffings, and bid him adieu ! 



62 CAMPBELL. 

CAMP BELL.— The Bard of Hope. His chafte and claffic 
exprefiion Is equal to Gray's, and has more manly fire and energy. 

His beauties are felt and appreciated by all minds — more, per- 
haps, than any Britifh poet. Not one grain of immorality is 
mixed with his paflionate burfts. A high moral, patriotic, or 
religious fcarf is thrown gracefully over every fentiment. We 
fee nothing to cenfure or apologize for. Purity, both in ftyle 
and fentiment, was his goddefs, on whofe altar he laid his offer- 
ings ; nor were they ever rejected. He was a fubdued, but 
chafte and elevated Byron. 

Who could ever read his " Pleafures of Hope," without 
wifhing to grafp his warm hand ? Who could perufe his " Ger- 
trude of Wyoming" without a fighing tribute to his pathetic 
powers and truthfulnefs to Nature ? — his " Flower of Love lies 
Bleeding," without a paflionate burft of fympathy for the woes 
of its high-fouled heroine, and the burning majefty of exprefiion 
fhe is endowed with in recounting them ? — or his " Hohenlin- 
den," without amazement at his wondrous command of grand 
and appropriate imagery ? 

We fee from one of his fhort poems that he had felt the bit- 
ter meaning of the word — mifanthropy ; and we honour him the 
more for not felfifhly torturing the world with its fombre hues, 
though none could have painted them with darker or grander 
effect. 

His truthful foul and child-like fimplicity of heart, notwith- 
standing the greatnefs of his mind, proved him one of the trueft 
poets of whom Britain can boaft, and his name fhall mine forth 
brightly when many of the popular idols of his day are broken 
and in the duft. 



BARRT CORNWALL. 63 

Licentioufnefs and impurity carry the feeds of their own early 
decay ; but noble fimplicity and purity increafe and expand in 
an equal ratio with Time. 

In fuch ratio, then, fhall the fame of Campbell expand. 

BARRY CORNWALL.— His renowned fongs have all the 
beauty, and greater force and frefhnefs than Moore's. His ima- 
gination is bold and vigorous, and his fancy throws around his 
compofitions the moft luxuriant tendrils, cluftered with airily- 
hung flowers of thought. 

His larger poems refemble the bold flems of high-foaring pines, 
through whofe dark-fringed tops the glittering moonbeams dart, 
and fall on the gleaming leaves of the giant ivy wreaths entwining 
them, and on the fanciful flowers of the fweet-fcented woodbines, 
intermingled with and hanging out their waving tafTels from fuch 
dark coverts. 

Thus ended Julian's notices of individual poets. 

He was aftonifhed at the great number he claimed as the 
mental friends of his youth, and whom he had thus compelled to 
file paft in fingle review before his critical eye. He had fearleflly 
uttered his opinions, and knew he could not be blamed for lack 
of honeft and independent feeling, if he were for erring judgment. 

In noticing fo many, Julian wifhed to give thofe who had not 
perufed the works of the poets here enumerated, a flight fketch 
of their different merits or demerits; and thus considered them 
chiefly from the ethical point of view. 

He fpoke not of thofe whom he had read only for information 
at a later period, but about whom the youthful tendrils of his 



6 4 



BARRT CORNWALL, 



heart were entwined ; and this muft account for the warmth of 
his praifes in many inftances. They, however, who read poetry 
with a coldly critical eye, ought to have it dafhed from their 
hands. They can never feel the intenfe beauty therein, which 
throws the warm and elevated mind into ecftafies. 





CHAPTER VII. 

Mucrofs Abbey (or Irelagh). 

ffj^ yfog tt WAS winter. The fombre fhades of evening were 
/Ltek gathering over the filent world, when a dark-muffled 
flranger moved reverentially up the folemn and foli- 
tary avenue leading to the ancient and deferted ruins 
of Irelagh. 

Having entered the ruftic wicket, as he threaded the dark and 
narrow pathway winding to that ghoftly remnant of former times, 
ftartled hares fprang up and difappeared beneath the gloom of 
the wild-grown copfe. Dark bats whirled in quaint figures over 
head ; and gray owls, ftartled from their evening meal, rofe be- 
fore his footfteps, and wheeled away through the dufk like fpec- 
tres to their dark ivied haunts. 

A thrill of chaftened awe (hot through him as he entered the 
mattered and ivy-decked pile of ruins, and his fteps echoed 
loudly through its gloomy ftillnefs as he ftumbled up its uneven 
and vaulted aifles, over broken and finking flabs, that once bore 
infcriptions, long fince effaced, to the ruined, mofs-grown tombs 
of the once famous O'Donoghue's and Macarthy More's. 

F 



66 MUCROSS ABBEY. 

Taking his feat on an ancient monument, through the broken 
apertures of which the brafs handle of a dark coffin was per- 
ceptible, and giving loofe rein to his thoughts, which at firft 
feemed numbed by the awful filence and denfe gloom around, 
this deferted and crumbling temple of the dead gave a deeper 
folemnity than his foul had ever yet acknowledged. 

Evening was fading into night ; and behold ! thofe god-like 
fenators, the lofty ftars, came fweeping forth with their flafhing 
filver robes into the opened halls of Heaven, to join God's fo- 
lemn conclave, and fat fublimely enthroned on high. 

The young moon, like the fraileft little filver canoe, floated 
airily above the dark mountain tops, and threw a faint and fuper- 
natural light over the vifionary fcene, which the ftranger furveyed 
with exquifite delight through the open portals of the ruined 
abbey. 

The heavily-waving folds of the ivy tapeftry gleamed fickly in 
the faint beams of that infant moon, like the foftened face of eld 
at the cheering fmile of infancy, and gave forth an occafional 
clatter, as the Night Breeze bade them clap their palms at her 
approach. Now a reftlefs bird darted from its uneafy refting- 
place in queft of a more congenial one. 

Now all was movelefs and filent. The bones of the " great 
departed" lay around ; lovely lakes and noble mountains bound- 
ed the diflant view. The crumbling ivied walls rofe above, and 
high over all fat the glorious ftars and failed the virgin moon, 
mooting their arrows of loving light on this otherwife dark world 
of ours, and cheering it with the afTurance that not alone and 
unheeded did it dive through the twilight depths of fpace. 

Many a high thought on the myfteries of birth, death, the 



MUCROSS ABBEY. 67 

univerfe, and immortality, arofe and darted their brilliant light 
from the depths of his foul, which was deeply fombred by the 
deathly fcenes around ; even as thofe brilliant ftars over head 
rofe from the gloom of night, without which they had remained 
unfeen, and their hopeful teachings had been unrevealed. 

Long and deep was his reverie. The forms of the departed 
lying around rofe up, and formed a long and ghoftly proceffion 
through the filent aifles and corridors. Some were fierce and 
wild in mien, others meek and faintly ; but moft wore the garb 
of fadnefs. Savagely bearded and gigantic warriors, folemnly 
hooded monks, faintly maids and tottering matrons, all fwept on 
in a never-ending ftream from the dark cloifters, through the 
noble porch, and faded away into the filent moonlight. Others 
of more ethereal mould appeared to float over head, through 
whofe tranfparent forms the ftars fhot their arrowy filver, even 
as they gleam through the filmy trains of freely-fweeping comets. 

Long did the imaginative ftranger fuffer his fancy to hold her 
powerful reign, till the damp chilly air of this humid ipot at laft 
compelled him to rife and make off his vifions. Away fled his 
fpiritual companion hofts ; but as his fteps again clove the filence, 
a fairy or fpiritual melody feemed to fall upon his ears, and a 
filvery and fmiling light to float through the noble pile. 

He now plunged through a low portal into the deepeft gloom, 
and groping his way through " darknefs that might be felt," the 
hollow fplafh of water drops flopped his career, and hinted cau- 
tion. 

Feeling, at laft, another doorway, he groped through a low 
pafTage, and difcovered faintly the fmall pilafters and arches of 
the cloifters, and drawing nearer the great central yew tree, at 



68 MUCROSS ABBEY. 

length faw the cheering faces of his beloved friends, the ftars, 
peeping through its dark deathly-looking canopy, feeming to 
hang on its giant branches like thofe rich gems which Aladdin 
plucked from the coftly trees of enchantment. 

Ye lovely and mighty ftars ! Why did the foolifh aftrologers 
of yore think that ye condefcended to tell the individual fates of 
petty mortals, when their main happinefs depends in not being 
acquainted with their impending fate, which though eventually 
dark, is compenfated for by Hope's alluring and comforting fmiles 
beforehand. 

Why did they not fee that ye were the bearers of good tidings 
to all men, as one of your phalanx was at Bethlehem ? 

That ye were the fymbols of Eternity and Immortality ! For 
ye are the bright fentinels watching ever at the wide portals of 
the Infinite, ever fpeaking in words of light the vaft majefty of 
the Great Spirit who thought ye, into being, — and fupports ye 
ever on the electric chain of his bright fpirit, by which ye are 
ever fuftained, and filled with life, light, and majefty. — Ever 
watchful when the human world lies hufhed in the arms of 
dreamful Sleep, — ever beckoning with twinkling fingers man's 
earth-born foul from his little garden-plot of a World, which he 
once thought fo great, through the wide fields and paftures of 
fpace whofe bright-cluftered flowers are worlds, — till loft in af- 
frighted wonder at the fublime and awful grandeur of thofe endlefs 
fhoals of worlds, funs, and fyftems, ftill rolling fo melodioufly, 
and unerringly onwards from the abyfs of paft Eternity, onwards, 
■ — ever onwards, — he feels his own infignificance as a Man, but 
his majefty as a Spirit capable of piercing from the watch-tower 
of his own little ifland-world, lying in the endlefs oceans of the 



MUCROSS ABBEY. 69 

infinite, into fuch depths, unaided by material agency ; — that a 
fmall fand-grain of his creator's mountainous omnipotence and 
omnifcience has been granted to his own fpirit, rendering it im- 
mortal ; — and that his foul is a concentrated drop of the vaft 
infinite Spirit of Nature, (by virtue of which he is enabled to 
take fuch lofty flights,) encafed in a material mortal form ! Gra- 
dually then dawns this brightfome truth over his mind that Spi- 
rit is immortal, abfolute, pofitive, infinite ! — and matter is mortal, 
paffive, fubfidiary and finite \ — the lever which the fpirit wields 
to carry out its defigns ! 

Thus communed the ftranger with his own heart, which, de 
Ipite all the gloom and worn-out fpirit hufks or fhells which lay 
rotting and rotted around, faw even in Nature alone fufficient to 
fatisfy him of a bright immortality. 

His filent thankfgivings having afcended, he bade the noble 
and impreffive old ruins a loving adieu and departed ; but never 
mail that imaginative ftranger forget that impreffive night — nor 
the ancient Abbey of" Irelagh."* 

Need we identify this ftranger with Julian ? 

* We have to warmly thank our beloved friend, the author of " Irelagh," 
for the romantic intereft we firft felt in this venerable pile, in which delight- 
ful and inftruttive work the Abbey is the fcene of feveral moft impreffive 
occurrences. The opening paflage is nobly impreffive, and bears the ftamp 
of true genius. But being an intimate friend of ours, we rauft refrain from 
uttering the praifes we mould otherwife certainly do. 




CHAPTER VIII. 

Introduction. — Definition of Time. — Relative Pofition of Man 
and Nature. — Explanatory Vifion of Thought. 

ULIAN'S wanderings among the primeval and 
grandly impreflive mountains, which remain as they 
firft towered above chaos (fave the huge rocks that 
are tumbled about their fummits by the pofterior 
Deluge), and now ftand as memorials of that dark period of the 
world's hiftory, joined with his night-vifit to and meditations in 
the ancient ruins of Irelagh, gave a deep folemnity to his thoughts; 
and during his fucceeding filent and folemn night-vigils, the fol- 
lowing pages, containing a difentombed youthful vifion, foared 
folemnly up from the depths of his mind, as he ufually fat, with 
lights extinguifhed, gazing upon the diftant dark-looming moun- 
tains, nearer lakes, and the lofty ftars glafled deeply therein. 

Though he knew it was immature, he felt there was a fpirit 
of holy love o'erfhadowing it, which would not be unheeded by 
thofe who read with pure minds. Let, however, Longfellow's 



INTRODUCTION. 71 

exquifite, yearning lines apologize for its infertion here, as a me- 
mento of his beloved youthful thoughts. 

" Vifions of Childhood ! ftay, oh ftay ! 

Ye were fo fweet and wild ! 
And diftant voices feemed to fay, 
It cannot be ! They pafs away, 
Other themes demand thy lay, 

Thou art no more a child ! " 

Julian wifhed by this virion to prove to the world that the 
elevation of Nature was not the debafement of Divinity, as had 
been often falfely hinted, but that it raifed and gave life to the 
operations of both in the eyes of mortals, and made them efteem 
the goodnefs and majefty of God in a far loftier degree. 

He knew that the Chriftian religion was one which touched 
the heart, more, perhaps, than the mind ; for he faw that thofe 
who had fmall mental powers, but were rich in natural affec- 
tions, were often more deeply influenced, and totally renovated, 
by its doctrines of love and good-will to all men, than deeply 
learned and powerful minds ; that it was confequently a more 
natural religion, and that natural folutions mould be the means 
employed in explaining and giving life and deep meaning to it. 

Therefore it was that Julian, with the deepeft feeling of love 
and reverence to God, fketched brokenly the falient features of 
that vifion, — hoping it would awake as comforting trains of 
thought in other minds as it had done in his own. 

He alfo knew that the reafon religion was now fo comparatively 
lifelefs was, that it was taught and confidered in too abftracl: a 
light — that Heaven, and God, had loft their fullnefs of meaning 
— had become mere founding words, — that the immediate pre- 



72 INTRODUCTION. 

fence of the Creator was not felt in his works, and that having 
created the World and Man, had now left them to their own 
devices, — that it was becoming too much a religion of the mind 
rather than the heart, and confequently produced but a flight and 
wavering effecT: in comparifon. 

The heart and mind muft equally feel the effect and acknow- 
ledge the influence of any religion that is calculated to totally 
renovate and raife the human family. The mind may teft and 
acknowledge its truthfulnefs, but the heart, or love, alone can 
give that abforbing intereft and intenfe life, without which it is 
but like the unfruitful fig tree, with many green leaves, which 
look pleafant and beautiful at a diftance, but when more critically 
obferved, is found to bear leaves only and no fruit ; and like that 
tree mail it be blafted, and gazed at with fcorn by all the patters by. 

We have now approached the climax of our fubjedt. And 
here, O Father of Lights ! we befeech thee to give us that true 
difcernment and elevation of mind in the treatment of fo lofty a 
theme, without which all that may be uttered muft be but vain 
emptinefs. 

From the birth of Time, or animated matter (the latter, when 
blended with fentient life, being the natural fymbol of the former) 
— let us rather fay from the birth of Man (for Time belongs only 
to mind whilft cooped in and giving life to matter) — Nature has 
efTayed, but for the chief part unfuccefsfully, to explain her mean- 
ing to her children, the denizens of Time, who were cradled on 
her loving breaft. 

Time refults from matter animate, or in motion ; dead, inani- 
mate matter belonging to Eternity, or its prototype the Divinity, 



DEFINITION OF TIME. 73 

being but His ftore-heap of unwrought material, from which He 
moulds at will new combinations of ufeful or beautiful forms, 
as receivers of his fuperabundant life and love. 

What had the dead bulk of the black mountains and ftagnant 
oceans of formlefs chaos to do with Time ? No life, and con- 
fequently no events (by which Time is meafured) ; no alterna- 
tions of night and day, — and if there were, no fentient mind to 
take cognizance of them. The dark pall of a dead Eternity hung 
over the world, and till a fpark of fpiritual fire from the Divinity, 
enclofed in the form of Man, was fhot into it, what was it but a 
dark nonentity ? 

The foul of Man then was the creator of Time in this Earth, 
and mould that fpark ever again become extinct, another dark 
Eternity will fwallow up this now pulfing and life-breathing world, 
and a fecond time will it become a dark nonentity ! 

This, however, mall never be — fooner fhall fhe be transfigured 
and fublimed, her unworthy portions purged away in elemental 
fire, and then, joined and linked with her fitter planets, enter 
with joy the glowing portals of her fire the fun ! (We have both 
a natural and a fpiritual meaning embalmed in this idea.) 

The World lay as a lifelefs germ of thought, in the boundlefs 
circle of the Mind of Deity, till the fire of fentient life fell into it, 
from which moment it has been and is now gradually developing. 
And here we call the whole univerfe of things and events to wit- 
nefs, that this divine thought is not yet developed or difentangled, 
and that the Mind of Deity, as feen reflected in its jarring and 
contradictory events, is ftill working out and will yet brightly 
folve this difficult problem ! # 

* Which problem is this, (and all religions picture it forth) j— the appa- 



74 RELATIVE POSITION OF 

Now, as this World is but an unit and reprefentative (to the 
human mind) of the myriad clufters of Worlds imbedded in fpace, 
we mortals may form fome faint idea of the grandeur and infinity 
of their and our great Creator's powers, — in whofe foul fuch 
fpheres lay, but as the germs of thought now only in blofTom, the 
fruit of which has yet to appear and fill the Univerfe with beauty, 
plenteoufnefs, and gladnefs ! 

God created matter to ferve particular and ufeful ends. Earth 
then, is the Mother who bore, and God is the Father who begat 
Man, who is their mutual child. God fupplied the fire of fpirit 
and wifdom, and Nature the heart and its holy affections, which 
foften and give a cheering glow to the former. 

Love for his mother, and cheerful and affectionate regard for 
her precepts, is neceffary for the more elevating and fublime love 
of his Father. (For if we love not the Creator's works which 
we have feen, how mail we love Him whom we have notfeen ?) 

Yet fhall the Father, and not the Mother, claim the loftieft 
portion or foul of their mutual child. He leaves her that which 
me fupplied, viz. her child's inanimate body, which fhe after- 
wards hugs to her forrowful breaft in remembrance. Thus does 
the parting of foul and body take place — God claims the foul, and 
Nature takes the body, which fhe depofits in her ample treafury, 
as God's Stewardefs, till recalled for a nobler transformation. 

Nature appears dead and inanimate to common eyes, yet fhall 
fhe gradually, and ftep by flep, through the medium of her chil- 

rently doubtful iffue of the conteft between fpirit and matter, — of body and 
foul — when blended, and the finer and bolder development of fpirit by 
fuch wreftling againft corporal paflions, which are to the foul, what gym- 
naftics are to the body. — The fight of human againft Divine will — of light 
againft darknefs — good againft evil — God againft Devil. 



MAN AND NATURE. 75 

dren, fail into the halls of Divinity and Eternity — the laft but not 
the leaft honoured gueft of thofe immortal palaces. 

'Tis thus then Man grounds his naturally engendered hope* 
and triumphantly waving ftandard of Immortality ; — that whereas 
God framed him in his own image, and placed him on the thi- 
therto dead earth to cheer by his prefence, and give life by his la- 
bours, to its previous mighty but inanimate bulk — he mould, 
when fuch duty had been duly and lovingly performed, and her 
genial laws of love and benevolence been learnt, wend his way 
back, filled with her holy precepts (which he had likewife been 
lent to learn), to his Father's bofom, and be hailed as a loving 
and dutiful fon. 

Man was not planted on this beautiful world for his own plea- 
fure merely, but as an object of intereft to the Divinity, — a re- 
ceiver of Nature's manifold bounty, which had elfe run to wafte, 
and a developer (by contact with his fellows and ftubborn mat- 
ter) of his own nature, corporeal and ipiritual.f 

For God would not have created him for a merely felfifh end, 
but for the good of the whole Univerfe, as every part, however 
minute ferves, and fits in the great whole. 

God fees and works not in parts and fpecks like man, — but 
knows how to fit in every portion of the huge moving frame- 
work of this ftupendous Univerfe. 

We will now give a flight fketch of a Thought Vifion, as an 
explanation of and apology for the exiftence of Man and Nature.^: 

* We fay nothing here of divine revelation. 

•f- And fpiritual through the means of corporeal, — the latter being only 
the means to the former end. 

% This is but a flceleton or germ of the idea we hope to develope more 



76 EXPLANATORY VISION 

In the boundlefs depths of Eternity — long ere the birth of 
Time — (Time commencing from when God firft created indi- 
vidual lives apart from his own) the whole Univerfe exifted in, 
and was the Deity. 

The feeds of all the infinitely numberlefs and then undeveloped 
worlds of matter lay lifelefs in that awful profundity. The germs 
of all that were, that are, or that will be, lay imbedded therein, 
but the fire of life lay dormant or was but a fmouldering ember. 

One mighty foul lay imprifoned in the walls of its own unity 
or totality. No outward proof, or token, of its innate boundlefs 
love and benevolence, could ifTue from it to benefit a feparate 
being, for the foul of Deity was all that exifted — it was the "All 
in all!" 

Who can defcribe the awful and denfe folitude of that one lone 
univerfal mind, or who tell the agony arifing therefrom, and 
which in the end induced the firft work of creation, or emana- 
tion, and final deliverance of fuch from his pregnant foul ? 

*■ % % % % %fc 3fc 

Suddenly a fparkling thought fhot brilliantly acrofs the uni- 
verfal mind ! The idea of creating fome beloved object dhTevered 
and apart from its own entity, on whom it could pour out its 
fondnefs, began to fwell, glow, and finally reftore, its firft bright- 
nefs and funny hopefulnefs ! 

Then began the innermoft creative powers of the Eternal to 
unfold, and gradually from his central heart grew forth, and was 
finally diiTevered therefrom, a glorious harveft of fpiritual or 
angel forms ! 

fully in " The EnthufiaftV , We wifh this chapter atprefent to be but vague 
and fuggeftive. 



OF THOUGHT. 77 

Now were all the fertile ftreams of love unloofed, and his 
mighty heart began to beat with fympathetic fondnefs towards 
his children, which moft glorious attribute had neceflarily till then 
lay lifelefs, All his latent powers were now boundleflly called 
forth in creating pleafures for his children. 

He thus created the fpiritual or angelic hofts as companions 
of, and minifters to, his beloved Son (who reprefents the living, 
creative, or active attribute of the Godhead, which attribute or 
faculty, having the fire of active life thrown into it, muft develop 
and fatisfy its powers by creating through the means of the body 
[or Father], as companions, or objects of intereft, children on 
whom to beftow its kindly feelings and love. Love was the firft 
caufe of creation, and the Son of God the chief impeller and 
generator of the fcheme # ). 

* * * * * * * 

But as in the human mind, and within the bofom of long in- 
ertnefs, and calm content, a brood of reftlefs, fiery-motioned, 
flinging ideas are gradually generated and nurfed into active life, 
even as the ftill ftagnant water generates its fwarm of animalculae, 
— illformed and misfhapen microfcopic monfters,and every fpecies 
of infect: devilry, greedily devouring each other ;— fo, gradually 
within the heart of Angelic love and fupinenefs, fprang reftlefs 
afpirations and mutinous fancies; — then arofe gradually but 
ftrongly a wifh for independent action, apart, and away from the 
immediate prefence of the all-fuftaining Omnipotent. 

* Since writing the above we have fallen upon the following text : — (God) 
" hath in thefe latter days fpoken unto us by his fon, whom he hath appointed 
heir of all things, by <whom alfo he made the worlds ."" — Hebrews i. z. Alfo 
many others to the fame effecl. — If Chrift made the worlds then the myftery 
of His dying to fave what He had created becomes more luminous ! 



78 EXPLANATORY VISION 

Mutiny amongft the Angels ! — A feparate independent ftate of 
exiftence was demanded, and as a punifhment granted. The 
cord of Paternal obfervance, protection, and reftraint from evil 
devices was fnapt, and innumerous as the ftar-crowds off flew 
the felf-adting free-will'd fpirits into fpace, from out the halo of 
God's fpirit which is Heaven, — exulting in their new-found but 
dangerous gift of liberty, — the laft and grandeft, but alas ! the 
moft fatal gift to the fpirit world ! 

Thus voluntarily fell the Angel World from their firft ftate 
of fimple and God-fuftained blefTednefs ; — from inactivity pro- 
ceeded evil and foolifh deflres ; from the wild ferment of thefe, 
fprang felf-pride ; and from felf-pride, free-will was called rebel- 
lioufly for, and as the medium of felf-punifhment, — felf-inflicted, 
was granted. 

Then fell away the bleffed garments of fpotlefs innocence, 
love, and humility, and lo ! then faw they the nakednefs of their 
own powers and were afhamed. The garments of deceit and 
falfe appearance were woven, and donn'd. An inner hidden life 
of felfifhnefs, and felf-love fprang up as a natural defence againft 
the unruly and ambitious defires of each other, and too late was 
the fearful gift of abandonment to felf, found to be a deadly evil. 

Still the great power and unreftrained action of a Spirit 
created direct from the Eternal's bofom, remained ; and as yet, 
confcious power, and unbounded freedom made their ftate endu- 
rable. Mountainous pride and felf-ifolation naturally followed, 
and made almoft Gods, though fallen ones, of thefe loft but 
mighty Spirits. 

But in the agony of that felf-centred felfifhnefs and ifolation 
of being, many repented and befought their God to once more 



OF THOUGHT. 79 

lead them from their forrowful land of repentance, through the 
gates of Oblivion, into their childlike ftate of innocent depend- 
ence, — when their Father was their all-in-all, — to the flowery- 
fields of their fpiritual infancy, and thus from the womb of 
agonized Repentance were they born again. 

Let each man fearch his own heart for the exiftence therein 
and the truthfulnefs of this legend of the fall and flight of the 
Angels from their firft ftate of bleflfednefs in their heavenly 
infant home. Let him obferve how the child of clay likewife 
leaves the paternal roof and the age of trufting innocence, and 
voyages afterwards on the troubled waves of the world, till the 
land of repentance is reached, on the other fide of which, 
ftands the father with his open arms to welcome the prodigal 
home ! 

Thus then fell myriads from the Angel World, yet was good 
to be deduced from evil ! 

Again the Stream of Eternity flowed on ! 

Then created He a race of humbler and more finite-moulded 
beings, the dwarfifhnefs of whofe felf-emanating power mould 
engrave the leflbn and neceflity of humility deeply upon their 
hearts, and lead them to look upon Him as their only Father, 
from whom love, light, and knowledge mould flow, in propor- 
tion as true love and humility fitted each foul for their reception. 

Thus, then, created He the beautiful world, and a noble yet 
confined refidence for the foul of Man (his body), which foul, 
tied down to Time and matter, mould feel the full force of its 
good or evil actions, the confcience being the accufing angel or 
revenger which he enclofed and intertwined with the fpirit in its 



So EXPLANATORY VISION 

clay walls ; — this near proximity and blending conflituting its 
mighty power over the mind and its pofleflbr's actions ! 

Thus leaving each fpirit freely to develop itfelf by its own 
freewill ; fcattering around profufely all beautiful fymbols for the 
foundation of man's language ; and filling nature with benevo- 
lent and openly exprefled (i, e. to the fpiritual ear) promptings ; 
He left man to nobly develop his mental faculties, by ^learning 
with gratitude, and through the medium of deep attention and 
application, her mild and generous leflbns : and to imbed the 
love and humility they taught in his foul, as the only true and 
ftable foundation for a loftier development ! For behold how 
mighty and powerful Nature is, and yet how bountifully and 
cheerfully fhe deigns to clothe and feed man, or even the 
fmalleft animal, and to fupply their humbleft wants ! 

Here, then, we leave man for the prefent. We leave him in 
the morning of Time roving the gardens of infant Nature (or 
Paradife), liftening to and almoft adoring the myfterious yet then 
unknown fpirit-language or meaning of the beauties furrounding 
him — or the impreffion made on his mind by thofe beauties — 
afterwards to take the vefture of words, and become the repre- 
fentatives of ideas. 

The creation of this World and of man is a fublimely merci- 
ful fcheme of the Deity, and is intended to teach man (for the 
fake of his eternal happinefs), by continually contemplating its 
infinite variety, and his own femi-ignorance of its origin — except 
by revelation — the weaknefs and humble powers of his own foul 
(unaided by his God), its longings, and its real nature ! 

This is the purpofe of Nature, — this is why man is neftled 



OF THOUGHT. 81 

on and chained for a time to hex breaft — till the vacancy, fool- 
ifhnefs, and helpleflhefs of his fpirit's infancy fhall be exchanged 
for the dawning wifdom and ftrength of its more mature age ! 

Let him look lovingly upon her beautiful and fympathetic 
face, and fhe will prove herfelf a dear mother — will fill his foul 
with love and ferenity whilft with her — and will ever point, 
with her thoufand filent yet eloquent fingers, to his Father in 
Heaven as the only true parent of his immortal foul, — and to 
the halls of Heaven as his only proper dwelling-place, when he 
departs from her humbler home of his infancy ! 

Thus, then, ftands Nature as the kind mother and Precep- 
trefs of Man. She teaches him the healthy leflbn of Induftry, 
by the neceflity of his labouring to produce more abundant gifts 
from her generous breaft — the leflbn of Love, by her own beauty 
and kindlinefs — of humility, by the open example fhe fets him of 
her own — and reftricts the hope of immortality which man has 
naturally implanted in him, thus : — that whereas if the material 
fun fhone not upon her fhe would become dark and lifelefs, fo 
likewife if the fpiritual Sun or Father of man fried not his light 
over his child's created, and not felf-exiftent foul, it could not 
poflibly exift, and would alfo become loft and dead. 

Does fhe not, by her feafons, and her bright refurrection after 
lying in the dead, cold, arms of Winter, hint to man, her fpiri- 
tual fon, who is as the flower of her beauty, that he likewife 
fhall rife again renovated and more glorious after the refrefhing 
embrace of the wintry grave (even as the corn feed is more in- 
vigorated and ftrengthened by the coldnefs and fnow of winter), 
and fhall be received in the lovely and glowing arms of a fpiri- 
tual Spring? 



82 VISION OF THOUGHT. 

What ! fhall the earth, that, by the fiat of God, engendered 
man, who, even in his material form, is her higheft and moft 
honoured development, ftill go on arraying herfelf, from year to 
year, from barren Winter to fruitful Autumn, in the gorgeous 
garments of life and beauty ? Shall the glittering ftars and lovely 
moon go mining on, and pouring their filvery mowers of light 
o'er the earth merely to beautify a huge fepulchre ? Or fhall 
man, O ye glorious bodies ! who pofTefTes a forming felf-direct- 
ing fpirit, fink down into nothingnefs and heed no more your 
filent and overpowering beauty ? Shall the grave entomb his 
powerful foul, that fcans ye all, tefts your diftances, and divines 
the laws by which ye are marfhalled ? No ! we fhout out here 
before ye glittering myriads of worlds, who are now looking 
down upon us, and defy ye to outihine the immortal foul of 
man. He is of Heaven, and from the Creator's hands as well 
as you, endowed with more glorious attributes, claiming a clofer 
relationfhip with God, " formed in his own image," (which, 
however grand and beauteous, ye cannot boaft !) and poflefTed 
of more penetrating, fubtle, and far-reaching faculties ! Ye dart 
your light for a certain, almoft immeafurable, but yet fixed 
diftance, but he darts his mind throughout the whole univerfe ! 
Ye are but the teachers of certain truths to man or the beings 
by whom ye are inhabited ; then why greater and more immortal 
than thofe ye ferve. " Shall the fervant be greater than his Lord ? " 

Death, or rather Annihilation, what art thou, or who fears 
thee ? Not the man who feels his own falient and boundlefs 
foul within ! Back to thy tomb ! — dare not to fcare weak igno- 
rant fouls with thy oblivious fhade ! We call upon God to an- 
nihilate thy falfe terrors ! Thou unfubftantial and unreal Fiend 
Shadow — away ! 



CHAPTER IX. 




The Poet 9 s Duty. 

HE writing of that vifion had much enlarged and 

diftended the mind of Julian, for clufters of thoughts 

like conftellations flamed their light through his 

excited mind, which were moflly too lofty to be 

haftily developed, and confequently are not here recorded. 

He felt his love and reverence to God to be far deeper than 
when he commenced it, and he hoped that his readers might 
alfo imbibe a portion of the fame holy feelings from its perufal. 
He knew it was far from perfect as a compofition, and wifhed 
it to be merely fuggeftive to other minds of like elevating 
thoughts, which each might perchance find benefit from, by de- 
veloping and refolving for himfelf. 

He knew there were many minds that had foared far higher 
than his own, but he likewife felt there were far more who had 
not reached his height, and thefe it was he wifhed to inform, 
and thefe he wrote for ! 

Thus he avoided all abftracT: philofophical idioms, and confi- 



84 THE POETS DUTT. 

dered his fubjeft in a merely natural light. And as we are told 
that man was made in the exprefs image of God, fo he had en- 
deavoured to explain the workings of Deity through the help of 
the moll: elevated and God-like natural feelings. 

Night arrived — the laft line was tranfcribed, and with his 
" Virion" he entered once more the happy home of his fmiling 
friends. 

He read it aloud ; many fuggeftions were offered and taken, 
as to cutting away the wildeft moots, which might prove too 
myftical for the World at large ; and he faw, as his obfervant 
eye occasionally fcanned the liftening group, that the end he 
aimed at was accomplifhed with them, for he perceived that his 
feeds of thought fell not upon rocky ground to wither and die, 
but that they would doubtlefs germinate and bring forth future 
fruit. 

The made of deep thought hung like the canopy of evening 
over the circle that night, till the firft lulling, and then infpiring 
voice of mufic diffipated it. Julian at laft felt the preflure lifted 
from his mind, and when the parting word was given, he was 
once again the fame cheerful being as formerly. 

That night as Julian walked through the filent moonlight, 
and trod the filvered earth, veined by the black fhadowed fibres 
of the leaflefs trees, with the ftars gliftening through their lofty 
branches overhead, a deeper fenfe of the grandeur and expref- 
fivenefs of Nature, joined with a more intenfe feeling of love 
and gratitude to his God and all his created works, filled his 
mind like a glowing golden haze, making his foul overflow with 
bleflings and praife j and when he preffed his refrefhing couch, 
his {lumbers were vifited by delicious vifions and heavenly viftas. 



the poets Durr. 85 

A few nights afterwards produced the following flight fketch 
of the Poet's duty, as grounded upon the previous virion, and 
muft be confidered as a fhort fupplementary chapter to it. 



The Poet's Duty. 

TAVING divined the relative pofition of Man and Nature, 
A JL viz., that God has appointed her the firft teacher or in- 
ftructor of her fon, and the engraver on his mind of certain fixed 
fpiritual principles, taught through the medium of boldly-de- 
veloped natural laws, and which fhe, by her long connection with 
him, flamps with ineffaceable diftinclnefs on his mind, let us 
now proceed to point out the Poet's duty (who may be diftin- 
guifhed as her moft loving, attentive, and afpiring child). 

We have given feveral illuftrations in proof of the pofition we 
have taken, viz., that the operations of Nature do fhadow forth 
certain mental phafes, and enable the mind of man to explain 
and develop its own meaning and workings, through the medium 
of fuch operations, and alfo of imagery founded on the natural 
forms and appearances, fo fuggeftive of parallel thoughts, with 
which her fpacious ftore-houfe teems. 

The duty of the Poet, then, is this : Loving his mother 
deeply (for he cannot be a true poet otherwife), he muft ever 
watch her expreflive countenance attentively (for fhe looks to 
him as the interpreter of her filent language, without whofe help 
fhe muft ever remain dumb and unexplained), he muft antici- 
pate her moft vaguely hinted promptings, and after aligning 
them their correfponding mental truths, he muft exprefs them in 
the forcible language of man, and familiarize him with them, 



86 THE POET'S DUTT. 

through the means of apt imagery, which, being drawn from the 
all-feen World of Matter, is readily underftood by all. 

Likewife muft he fo exprefs every truth which he, through 
diligence, and " attentive and believing faculties," has learned 
from her. It is his duty to elevate Nature in the eyes of his 
fellow-men, by hailing her with all reverence as the immediate 
and loving minifter of her Creator, and to crown her with honour 
in the eyes of her negligent fons, which mail prompt them to 
look further into her meanings. 

By elevating her in their eyes, they will be more proud of her 
guardianfhip, more content with their lot whilft with her, and 
more thankful to her Creator, for the many bleffings which me 
as his ftewardefs difpenfes to mankind — this laft being her higheft 
achievement — the uniting of her fon to his God, through the 
feeling of gratitude, for the many yet unoftentatious bleffings 
fcattered around him through her agency, by his benevolent and 
loving Father. 

All this is the Poet's duty, and he will never feel happy or 
contented with his works or felf till he has done his beft to per- 
form it. 

The Novelift may amufe mankind ; the Philofopher, or Sci- 
entific favant, may inftrucl: coldly; but the Poet muft add to 
amufement and inftru£tion, elevation and warmth of foul. He 
muft rife from natural to fpiritual truths ; and from human in- 
ftruclion to divine ! In fine, he muft make the lovely Earth but 
as the floor of Heaven, and fhow that it is furrounded by the 
firmament of Divinity. 

He muft trace, as developed in the conftant workings of the 
univerfe around, and the whole circle of events, paft and prefent, 



THE POET'S DUTY. 87 

the gradual development of the Deity's defigns, as feen glaffed 
therein, and then exprefs them, clothed in apt words or imagery, 
to his fellow-mortals. 

The Poet's thoughts are imbedded in, and glitter through the 
firmament of imagery, as the ftars fwim in and dart their light 
through the depths of fpace ; their lovely brightnefs and great 
loftinefs commanding the attention and admiration of the World 
of Man! 

The Poet muft ever feek after elevating all that is fallen or 
caft down ! Wherever God's creating fingers have been at work 
there he mull: fing the wonders they have wrought. 

Laftly and chiefly, wherever he finds God has vouchfafed to 
reveal his will, or the arcana of Eternity and his own foul to man, 
with the deepeft fpirit of humility, and moil earned: fupplication 
to his Heavenly Father for affiftance, he muft ftudy them with 
all the earneftnefs that love, hope, and his longings after the cer- 
tain immortality of the foul can give, and then prefent to the 
world in glowing language the happy and comforting refults of 
his deep refearches. 

We will now go one ftep further, and give a favourite idea of 
our youth, viz. that the Poet will yet be the High Prieft of Man ; 
for he, and not cold-hearted and one-fided men, alone knows how 
to brim up all the many gloomy recedes of the human heart with 
love, hope, and joy ! 

Julian had certainly (as his friends remarked) taken a high 
ftand for the Poets, but he knew that the loftier the ftandard 
was pitched on the mountains of Poefy the greater would be the 
height to which they would afcend ; and, though they never 



88 THE POET'S DUTT. 

might reach it, that it would keep their eyes {trained heaven- 
wards inftead of letting them fall contentedly upon the lower re- 
gions of mind ! 

As in religion : how few can act up to its noble precepts, but 
the knowledge of them makes us difcontented with that line of 
action which, before we were acquainted with them, we looked 
upon with pride. 

As to his frequent mention of the ftars, which his friends ob- 
ferved he feemed to have a violent paffion for, Julian trufted that 
before any critical " Fadladeen" mould raife his fupercilious eye- 
brows and denounce their frequent introduction, he would remem- 
ber that the " Realms of Poefy" would look extremely gloomy, 
unlefs they were lighted up by the fmiling faces of fuch lovely 
maidens ! and alfo that he, Julian, threw down the gauntlet in 
defiance of any who fhould dare to flight or flander them. 

A few nights afterwards produced the following chapter, mow- 
ing how far the poets had performed their duty, and giving a par- 
tial fketch of the poetry of the World. 




CHAPTER X. 

A flight Review ofpaft Poetry. 

ND now, the Poet's duty having been afcertained, 
let us take a hafty glance at the Poets and Poetry of 
the Paft ! Let us fee who have understood, and 
then endeavoured to execute their million, and let 
us obferve the effect the Chriftian revelation had on fome of them, 
giving a vague idea of their proper fphere of action ! 

We mall fee that moft were content to throw mere flowers of 
graceful thought on the path of man, or to entwine the warm 
tendrils of love around his ftubborn heart — all of which had, 
however, an elevating and beautifying influence on the human 
family, though in a lower degree than the works of the grand 
fpiritual Mafters of Song. 

We take our firft and firmeft ftand at the majeftic bafe of the 
" Holy Bible ; and looking up with holy awe and reverence at 
its mighty and glorious edifice ; its foundations rooted in, and 
ftriking from, the central heart of Nature ; its fublimely beautiful 
architecture looming grandly and dim from its vaft proportions 



90 A SLIGHT REVIEW 

on our mental Tight, and its towers and pinnacles foaring into the 
loftieft heavens ; the ftarry thoughts of Heaven and Immortality 
glittering through and cluftering about their open tracery ; — we 
feel the fpirit of deep devotion and humility filling our foul and 
burfting with ardour to exprefs itfelf, in terms of deep thankful- 
nefs and praife to the Great and Divine Architect ! 

Shall we remain without this mighty and glorious dome, and 
not enter to hear the merciful and benevolent proclamations of 
God uttered by His minift ers within its fpacious courts, and chiefly 
by one bearing His own image — His own well-beloved Son, lent 
purpofely to inftrucl: as well as fave poor ignorant mortals ? 

We do not quietly utter, but we fhout out, that this is the 
moft beautiful, the mightier!, and the only really divine poem 
extant, (though there are many called divine becaufe grounded 
upon and taking their origin from it !) And we further fay, that 
he who will ever become a true and far-feeing Poet, and confe- 
quently a great one, muft enter with glad humility its walls, and 
feek diligently the explanation of its myfteries ! 

Where the grand Epics of Milton and Dante, or we may add 
the great works of all other poets marled together, have produced 
a deep efFecl: on one mind, this has produced a far deeper on 
myriads ! 

Then why mould the pigmy minds of the prefent day treat it 
with filence, or cover it with the foul, flimy, yet powerlefs venom 
of their unheeded contempt ? 

Myriads of greater men than ever they will be, loved it deeply, 
gladly fpending their lives in ftudying it, and writing their thoughts 
relative to its deep meanings ; having bequeathed to us, their de- 
generate fucceflbrs, mountainous mafTes of written thought on 
its myfteries. 



OF PAST POETRT. 91 

One divifion of this glorioufly divine poem may be confidered 
to have produced a far deeper, more falutary, and more lafting 
effect than all other poems, and we will add written books of 
any fort that the World ever faw, and there have been Alp-like 
heaps of fuch ! 

Paffing over the truly great and poetic fouls of Greece (Plato 
and others), and thofe of the gorgeoufly glowing Orient (whofe 
works we are not yet fuificiently acquainted with), we will firft 
take thofe poet friends of our youth upwards, whofe works are 
founded on, and were intended to explain, the above-mentioned 
poem of God and Nature, and this will bring us to Milton, Dante, 
and latterly Pollok. 

Thefe three aimed at being the developers and expounders of 
the will of God as pourtrayed in his word. 

Their great poems, though often vilely bitter in fpirit, are 
rooted in and moot from its revelations. They tried to give man 
the full circle of knowledge on divine lore, in an inviting form, 
and endeavoured to make clear the wonderful yet dimly under- 
flood works and will of God to man — to give him a comprehen- 
five view of the workings of Deity and his attributes — and in fact, 
as one of them expreffes it, " To juftify the ways of God to 
man." 

Thefe were themes that lay nearer! to Man's heart, and, being 
fuch, he eagerly grafped at them, was informed, raifed, and ele- 
vated by their perufal ; and they, producing a deep impreffion on 
his mind, acted as a goad to future refearch, the refult of which 
has often been bleft by ultimate faith in God's fatherly love and 
protection, and in the wonders of his revealed word. 

Men firft took up their works to be gratified with their beau- 



92 A SLIGHT REVIEW 

ties as Poets, and afterwards efteemed them as Poet-Priefts, and 
as the dearer! friends of their previoufly twilight fouls ! 

Thus, then, have this illuftrious trio done much, enlightened 
many, and are entitled to the veneration of all. They pafled 
many a weary day and anxious night, that they might inftrucl: 
and guide their fellow-men to their eternal happinefs, and they 
have received, are now receiving, and mall ftill receive, the rich- 
eft coronals of well-merited fame ; having boldly attacked the 
higheft bulwarks of myftery and entered the awful realms of Di- 
vinity. 

Others have contented their lefs deep and afpiring minds with 
roaming through the valleys and flower-gardens, and dallying 
with the beauties of Nature. Thefe laft, however, were as the 
infant instructors or preceptors of the mind of man to guide the 
way, and enable him to underftand and appreciate, through the 
medium of the love, fimplicity, and humility they taught, the 
beauties and deep wifdom of thofe higheft Mafters of Song ! 

We will not here notice Klopftock and other German Poets of 
a lofty clafs, as the three we have mentioned are more generally 
known to Englifh readers. The Trio already noticed will fuffice 
as illustrations of the loftieft ftyle of Poetry. 

Now follow the bards who fang more immediately of the 
wonderful beauties of Nature. 

The Grecian, the Latin, and the Italian Poets fought to ex- 
plain, beautify, or elevate, in the eyes of their fellow-men, her 
myfterious beauty and grandeur — feeking oftentimes to eftablifh 
a link between natural and fpiritual operations ; or they fang of 
virtue and her own brilliant rewards, and endeavoured to incul- 



OF PAST POETRT. 93 

cate, through the medium of their ideal heroes, nobility of foul 
and high moral principles — the lovelinefs of virtue, or the foul 
deformity of Vice. 

Some fang the praifes of great and noble men, of brave war- 
riors, or of terrible battles, feeking to throw a bright halo of 
romance about glorious achievements ; each one ftriving in his 
own way to elevate the human mind by applauding brave or 
humane and generous actions, and by inculcating noble fenti- 
ments. Or they tried to foften and fpiritualize the mind by their 
touching tales of forrow and woe. 

Others made Love, and fome purely imaginative fubjec"h, their 
theme ; each endeavouring in his own walk to contribute his mite 
towards the elevation or the foftening, and confequent ennoble- 
ment, of the otherwife fierce afpirations and hot pamons of man- 
kind. 

The influence their fongs had over men, unaided by phyfical 
ftrength, taught the leflbn of the vaft fuperiority of mind over 
matter, and was a bold prophecy that the kingdom of mind would 
become far higher than that of matter or mere phyfical force, and 
would at fome future period banifh the ufelefs Fiend of War and 
Bloodfhed from the World. 

We dart thus rapidly paft the monument each true individual 
Poet raifed to himfelf on the banks of Time, as they are cluftered 
too thickly for a feparate furvey ; and their influence over their 
generations, and by them over ours (for all true teachings con- 
tinually expand till they fill the World with light), is too palpable 
to need enforcement — the pages of hiftory likewife atteft the truth ! 

It is the aggregate and not the individual influence which we 
would here enforce. 



94 A SLIGHT REVIEW 

In the poetry of France (with fome bright exceptions) we fee 
the attributed character of its people glaffed. The light mifliles 
of flippancy and wit are hurled at the loftieft and nobleft fubjecls. 

Voltaire and his fneering crew were not the leaft caufe of the 
laxity of morals, depravity of heart, and fhallownefs of fenti- 
ment, which deluged that country during his life and after his 
death, and the waves of which we are forry to obferve are not 
yet broken ! They are blefled with fome men of deeper fouls and 
loftier fentiments now, whofe teachings we hope will not be fpilt 
upon barren foil. 

The German fchool of Poetry pofTefles an almoft abfolute fway 
over that imaginative and poetic nation. 

There, almoft every man has the feeds of Poefy naturally im- 
planted within him, or warmly appreciates thofe who have, and 
deeply venerates thofe who mine the brighter! in their firmament 
of Poefy. Their bards are, in truth, their lav/givers, or the tacit 
moulders, by their widely-difTeminated thoughts, of each new- 
moulded law ; and this accounts greatly for their noble, patriotic, 
and philanthropic fpirit as a nation. 

We fay boldly there are more pure hearts and afpiring fouls in 
Germany alone, than in almoft all Europe put together, and their 
poets have done much in foftering this noble pre-eminence ! 

It is well known the influence the early bards of Scotland, 
Wales, and the warm-hearted Erin had over their children, and 
alfo the enthufiaftic glow for noble achievements that the trouba- 
dours excited in the breafts of the Crufaders ! We need not fay 
anything of the Scandinavian, and early Nations of Northern 
down to Southern Europe, nor yet of the wild Indian, or other 
favage nations — let the hiftory of the world bear record ! 



OF PAST POETRT. 95 

Throughout the realms of Time, wherever the bard has ap- 
peared, there light, life, and beauty have iprung around his foot- 
fteps ! 

And now coming to our own country, we afk, has not Britain 
been elevated internally and externally by her Poet fons ? Have 
they not thrown life and beauty over objects that had elfe re- 
mained dark and forgotten ? Have they not warmed and elevated, 
by their immortal works, the hearts of their fellow-countrymen, 
— given fire to the zeal of the patriot, and religious fervour to 
the prieft ? Have they not (with fome few exceptions) almoft 
deified the noble attributes of Love, purity of Heart, and Pity, 
and inculcated the duty of univerfal kindnefs and fympathy to all 
the wretched and unfortunate portion of mankind ? 

All will agree that this has been done to a great extent, and 
that the hue of their Poets' thoughts has gradually blended with 
their own, and that they have contributed largely by their noble 
afpirations to the moral, and, by the moral, to the national 
grandeur of their country. 

We add no more to this rapid and flight fketch of the Poet's 
mighty influence, as it is too widely admitted to need further 
comment or illuftration ! 

The fine fable of the power of Orpheus, in the Grecian my- 
thology, is one of the trueft in that deep-meaning affemblage of 
myftically-exprefTed axioms. 

Wherever an Orpheus has fprung up, there has he never failed 
in melting and giving life to the ftony hearts of men, and in 
making them deeply fenfitive to noble impreflions ! 



CHAPTER XI. 




OUBTLESS our readers, like ourfelves, are fatigued 
with their long march through " The Realms of 
Poefy," let us therefore take another flight detour 
into the realms of Reality ere we come to the con- 
clufion of our journey, the terminus of which, we think, will be 
found in the next chapter. So now we have caught a cheering 
glimpfe of our goal, we fhout out the title of our work, and dam 
forwards with hope. 



A foiled Afcent. 

DEEP and over-ardent thought had thrown Julian into one 
of his occafional wild fits ; and though the day was far 
fpent and the night approaching, he determined to fcale Manger- 
ton alone, and there enjoy his meditations in the denfe folitude of 
mountain darknefs. 

He had toiled far up the difficult heights, in a ftate of oblivious 
reverie, when the previously drizzling rain was fuperfeded by a 
ftorm of fleet driven before the fierce mountain winds, chat 



A FOILED ASCENT. 97 

rufhed down like a pack of howling demons to devaftate the 
world below. This awoke him from his dreamy ftate, and his 
foul grew hot as he goaded his horfe, clove their angry troops, 
and fet their fury at defiance. 

Darknefs now hid the uncertain and dangerous path -, his horfe 
was nearly exhaufted ; dangerous rocks, bogs, and funken hollows 
lay thickly on all fides, and feeling more pity for the poor beaft 
he beftrode than fear for his own neck, he availed himfelf of a 
poor ragged lad's fervices, who had feen him afcending, and 
who had followed in the hope of acting as guide (with which title 
he honoured himfelf) to conduct him fafely back. 

Seeing a wreath of fmoke arife from amidft the thickly-ftudded 
maflfes of huge broken ftone, which appeared as though this 
had been the field of a fierce battle between the fabled Titans 
of eld, and having afcertained that it arofe from the cabin of the 
far-renowned Sir Richard Courtney, Knight of Mangerton, &c. 
he difmounted, and throwing the reins to his little attendant, 
ftumbled down to the fqualid and half-hidden cabin of this noted 
guide. 

Having entered, and introduced himfelf as a ftranger who 
having heard of his fame wifhed to vifit him, the poor fellow, 
who was fufFering under fome fevere difeafe of the lungs — " con- 
ftumption," as he termed it — and lay ftretched on a miferable 
pallet, bid him in the moft folemn manner, " Welcome to the 
home of Sir Richard Courtney." 

! The cabin apparently confifted but of one room, as is ufual in 
the huts of the Irifh peafantry ; the floor was of uneven earth, 
and fowls ftrutted about and claimed their right of refidence to- 
gether with the wretched little children. A turf fire threw its 

H 



98 A FOILED ASCENT. 

fitful light from the gratelefs hearth, and almoft ftifled Julian 
with its fmoke, fo that he was long ere he could difcern the fea- 
tures of the ftrange being before him. 

The ftrangely confufed converfation which enfued wound 
about like the meanderings of a mazy brooklet, touching many 
points, but refting at none. It was a curious adventure for 
Julian : — the winds roaring down that bleak mountain — black 
darknefs without, and gloom within, and that uneducated man 
pouring forth his ftrange fancies on a confufed heap of high and 
low topics. Now he fpoke of Michael and the Angels, and lofing 
himfelf in the mift of his too lofty theme — (which Julian thought 
long connection with the high mountains above them had given 
him an intereft in) — and then tumbling ftraight to earth, and 
almoft in the fame breath, giving his criticifms, eulogiftic or fati- 
rical, on the numerous vifitors who fecured his fervices during the 
" faafon time." Then followed inquiries after Sir John Franklin, 
and a difplay of his geographical knowledge was thus introduced ; 
and afterwards many inquiries after Englifh people who had been 
his friends ; and here let us tell thofe who knew this poor man, 
and who took an intereft in him, that their names were not for- 
gotten when he poured out his ftreams of gratitude to Julian's 
ear. 

He fpoke alfo of having the Bible in his pofTeffion, and ap- 
peared to efteem it as the greateft treafure in his humble home, 
wifhing to produce it as a proof of his wealth ; which Julian, 
when furveying the miferable place, thought was the only wealth 
of which he could boaft. He faid that a certain lady had fent 
him a Teftament, the print of which was, however, too fmall 
— (his droll letter of application for it, which we have been 



A FOILED ASCENT. 99 

favored with, being copied below*) — that the one produced was 
given him afterwards by a kind " gintleman" who vifited him; 
and that the mefTenger by whom he returned the nrft copy 
retained it, which proves that thefe poor people, though it is 
faid that their priefts forbid their pofTeffion of the Bible, have a 
wifh to iludy it for themfelves ; and curfed be any fyftem which 
prevents the free development of the mind, and clamps the book 
of life with clafps of iron ! 

The pofTeffion of this, Julian could plainly fee, gave the 
intereft on religious fubjects which Sir Richard evinced, and ac- 
counted for his vague, but fuggeftive remarks, on Michael and 
the Angels. 

Ere leaving the cabin, the poor man, in the moft pompous 
manner, requefted Julian to inform Mr. and Mrs. Hall, on his 
return to England, if he ever faw them, that he " had the honor 
of vifiting Sir Richard Courtney," who fent his bleffings and 
thanks for their kindnefs, and that he faid they were his beft and 
trueft friends. 

* " This comes from Sir Richard Courtney, Knight of Mangerton. 

" Dear and honored Lady, 

" I take this opportunity of fending thefe few lines, being laid on 
the flat of my back, and greatly throubled with a conftumption of the lungs 
and Rumatique aftma, to fay nothing of a nvakaning fwver bringing one very 
low, which is the raijln of making bould to afk your honor for the loan of a 
Bible, by the bearer, my little fon, that I may read it to my little childre in 
my little cabin, on the But of " Mangerton." 

This fketch of a poor Irifhman will fhow how, though miferably poor in 
circumftances, they are millionaires in dignity and felf-efteem. The pooreft 
wretch generally claims defcent from fome king, prince, or chieftain, and 
their ready wit, natural politenefs, and hatred to reftraint feem to bear out 
the aflumption. 



ioo A FOILED ASCENT. 

Little did Julian think when he dafhed homewards that even- 
ing, after promifing a fecond vifit, that the foul of poor Sir Rich- 
ard would, in one fhort week from that time, be floating away 
to the fpirit-land, and that his body would be laid beneath the 
made of that ruined abbey (Mucrofs) he had mown to fo many 
thoufand travellers ! 

This, alas ! Julian is forry to record, was the fact ! 

We have introduced this flight fketch chiefly for the purpofe 
of informing the thoufands who have enjoyed his company and 
fervices that their former amufing guide is no more ! * 

* We cannot omit returning, at fo convenient an opportunity, our moft 
unbounded thanks to Mrs. S. C. Hall, for the delight her elegant " Mid- 
fummer Eve's Tale " (prefented to us by a deeply-admired friend) afforded 
us, and which firft infpired the ardent defire to vifit this lovely, and to us be- 
loved fpot, and without which vifit this work had not been written. 





CHAPTER XII. 

Why Jhould not this age become the richeji Flower-Garden of 
Poefie? 

^gfj^ ffHE anfwer of the World to the above queftion will 
be, — " We fee no reafon, but every reafon why it 
fhould become fo." 

Still Ihe demands, as the Poets of her choice, fuch 
as fhall enter thoroughly into her afpiring fpirit, — not thofe who 
flielter their fame under the coverts of valley flowers, or who 
anchor their fkiffs in the rivulets of Time, but fuch as mail wave 
their floating flandards on the mountains of Mind, and failing 
the oceans of Infinity and Eternity, fhall bring from beyond their 
fhores rich freights of golden fruity thoughts ! 

The World Spirit is not now moved by elegies on dead don- 
keys, quartos of love ditties, and cataracts of wordy tears fried 
over the urn of the paft. Her motto is, 

" Let the dead Paft bury its dead ! " 

and fhe points with firm finger to the glorious dawning Sun of 
Futurity. 



102 A ^JJERT. 

She now fcorns the fpiteful mifanthropic mufings of felfifh and 
difappointed poets, who pour in revenge their corroding ftreams 
of farcafm and taunt over the hopeful Prefent and Future, and 
who in fact fet up their puny ftatues in oppofition to the gradu- 
ally developing fchemes of our glorious God and Father of all. 

What is in the womb of the pregnant Future we know not ; 
but this we do know, — that He who is the mighty moulder of 
events, and is the dear Father of all his loving children, will not 
forfake thofe whom He of his own will begat, and whom, as fuch 
Father, we feel it is his beloved duty to protect. 

The world, then, requires bards or prophets of the Future, 
not muffling lugubrious whiners over the hearfe of the Paft ; and 
when fuch appear, and not till then, will ftie give ear to her 
Poet fons : me has lived too long to liften to falfe prophets, or to 
fuch as lower or betray their high and divine truft and charge. 

A Poet's foul is the emblem of Immortality ! He is the child 
ofAfpiration and Hope, and if his works point not ever upwards, 
like the ipire of the humbleft village fane, then let him pour out 
his poetic gutter ftreams (and fluids ever feek their own levels) 
to crawling worms, fnakes, and ferpentry, that drag their flimy 
length over, and make their unclean nefts in, the otherwife beau- 
tiful human world. 

He whofe finger is ever pointed to the hopeful Heavens, and 
who defcends to Earth merely for fymbols to exprefs in the uni- 
verfal well-known language of Nature his lofty thoughts — he, 
and he only, fhall the world look up to with loving eyes, and 
hail him as her beft-beloved fon. 

Let not the Poet trouble himfelf too much with trying to 
elevate and fpiritualize the World through the medium of forrow 



4 ^JJERT. 103 

and woe, as all feel, alas ! their keen fting in reality ; and ficti- 
tious woes, however forcibly depicted, feldom produce the effect 
intended ! Hope is alfo more powerful than Sorrow — for forrow 
killeth, but hope giveth life and vigour ! 

Stand faft, then, ye embryo Poets ! Be not over anxious ! 
Wait till, by long meditation, and holy, lofty thought, God mail 
give you like lofty powers of expreflion, and conftitute you his 
teacher fons ! 

Let your hearts move on the earth, and in its beft interefts, — 
and let your minds roam through, and gather grandeur in the 
boundlefs halls of Infinity and Heaven ! 

And now, oh ye children of Song, ye bright band of living 
Poets ! — ye whofe fruit is already ripened and partly gathered ! 
— and ye whofe blofToms are juft expanding (having divined the 
anfwer of the world to our queftion) ! — we now afk why ye 
mould not become fuch beloved fons, when fhe calls fo loudly for 
your appearance ? Or why wafte your time in unmanly wailings 
over individual troubles, which God has feen proper to inflict, 
when ye may be giving voice to the mighty afpirations and long- 
ings of the great human family ? 

Shall the prefent wondrous age go down to pofterity unfung — 
a mere blank in hiftory ? — for ye are the real chroniclers and hif- 
torians of the World. 

Hiftory is but a cold regiftrar of events, — often a mere auto- 
maton, but ye are they who throw life and a living foul into them ; 
who fhow the caufes and partly-hidden roots from whence they 
fpring, and throw around them a bright halo which fhall glow 
through the hazy firmament of the Paft. 

Suffer not, then, private forrow, nor yet the Delilah-like temp- 



104 A %UERT. 

tations of the world, to fhave your locks of ftrength, and then de- 
liver you helplefs to have your far-feeing eyes torn out j but come, 
crowned with all your majeftic and manly vigour, to battle with 
thofe dark and powerful Philiftines, the hofts of Ignorance and 
Wrong, who are ever feeking to conquer and then murder the 
noble bands of Right, Religion, and Purity — that glorious Angel- 
trio, fent by God to wage war with and finally root out from the 
Earth the baneful progeny of their black and hateful foes ! 

The World will then receive you with open arms. The cri- 
tics (thanks be to God !) are no longer the malignant fatirifts of 
pure afpiring minds, but the fathers and kind advifers of all fuch 
as pofTefs the " inherent glow," and ardently wifh and ftrive for 
the enlightenment and happinefs of all mankind ! 

She will deeply thank and offer up prayers for you, if with 
God's affiftance and bleffing you cut away, or but partly remove, 
the virulent cancer from her aching breaft ! 

Come forth clothed in every fhred of mental majefty, beftowed 
upon you as a favoured gift by God ; and then not merely the 
fading wreaths of this world's fo-called Immortality mail be 
yours, but the glorious and fadelefs coronals of a heavenly Im- 
mortality beftowed by God's own hands fhall be feen encircling 
your honoured brows in the palaces of Heaven and Eternity ! 

We fear not the laugh of true poets at thefe our warmly ex- 
preffed thoughts and afpirations after a higher place of honour 
and ufefulnefs, to which they may afcend, than thofe of the paft. 

But fhould any feel inclined to fneer, let us tell fuch, that did 
we think it necefTary or manly to take up and ufe the bitter wea- 
pons of irony, perchance we might find fome fuch in our ar- 
mory equally, if not more fharp and gleaming than theirs, and 



A ^JJERT. 105 

prove, when Time has taken a few more ftrides, that they were 
wielded by, and proceeded from, a foul quite as mighty and deep 
as their own ! 

This, however, we fear not, for each pure cryftal ftar hails 
with delight another newly-rifen fifter as her companion through 
the otherwife black realms of night, and an afliftant in throwing 
light over the dark world of man ! 








CONCLUSION. 

ULI AN had at laft completed his wanderings through 
the flowery realms of Poefy. Many a night of 
anxious meditation had floated away filently before 
the footfteps of morning, and many a germ of noble 
thought had been fuggefted for future development during thofe 
folemn vigils. 

He would fain have added much more about the lovely locality 
in which his work had been produced. How with a noble-hearted 
young friend he had pierced through the frowning and grand gap 
of Dunloe, and in mooting the dangerous Weir bridge the rudder 
had broken at the moft critical period, and they had yet efcaped 
unharmed. How the old family carriage was often put in requi- 
fition, and he and his " fay re ladye" friends had driven through 
the moft enchanting fcenes ; and how with another ftrange friend 
he had been to trace the authenticity of an almoft forgotten 
legend, and to vifit the wild glen in which the occurrence took 
place, with many other adventures. But he feared the direct 
objecT: of his work would have fuffered from the admixture of too 
much narrative. 



FAREWELL. 107 

A few days after the completion of his work — having fhaken 
off the gloom which enwrapped him and poifoned his exiftence 
when he firft arrived — loaded with bleflings, he, with tearful 
eyes for thofe beloved friends and fcenes he left behind, fet fail 
for his native land. But before leaving, flowed forth the three 
following farewells : — 

Farewell ! 
To the World. 

AND now, O World ! we make thy warm hand with a feel- 
ing of pure friendfhip, and fay Adieu ! we hope only for a 
fhort time, and though, perchance, 

" It may be for years, 
And it may be for ever," 

ftill, if fo, fay we part on good terms : thou wilt not forget thy 
warm-hearted fon, who threw at thy feet his beft wifhes, — hailed 
thee with eager love, — and fhowered over thee his warmeft bleff- 
ings, ere he plumed his wings for the more genial climate of 
Heaven ! 

Such as he had, that he hopes he has given thee without referve 
or fear of rebuff; and " Though poor the offering be," he knows 
thou wilt not altogether reject it ! 

If thou haft — though with tears for their donors — accepted 
corroding and burning gifts of hate and mifanthropy, why 
mouldft thou refufe thofe of foothing love, and genuine (but not 
canting) philanthropy ? 

His heart is deeply interefted in the welfare of the whole 
human family, and he has not ufed kind words for his own 



108 FAREWELL. 

emolument, as he hopes his aims are far higher ! He is alfo far 
from fearing thee, O World ! but he wifhes to deserve thy 
love ; and he only feeks, and with God's blefling ever will feek, 
the univerfal good and the enlightenment and ennobling of all. 

Cenfure or praife falls alike harmlefs over fuch as feel they 
have dared to be true to the promptings of their own afpiring 
fouls ! 

Farewell, and may that glorious God who is above all, and 
created all, profper and give root to any feeds of good (if fuch 
there be) in this little work ; and mould there be any feeds of 
evil may He froft and blaft them ere they germinate ! 

Farewell ! and may God pour his richeft and moft foothing 
bleffings o'er us all ! 

To Killarney and my Mountain Friends ! 

FROM a folitary life on the wild fea more, and a fubfequent 
roving on the banks of the nobly-flowing Rhine, I came to 
thee, O thou laughing fpeck in the beauteous eye of Erin ! 

With what rapture have I watched the alternately frowning 
majefty or fmiling beauty of my beloved mother Nature's ex- 
preffive countenance ! With what wild pleafure have I liftened 
to and beheld the fhrieking ftorms, that torture but refrefh the 
bofom of the Mighty Ocean ! — the crafhing thunder rattling along 
its lone and lofty cliffs, and the fierce glare of the cleaving light- 
ning ! — the beauty of moon or the filent majefty of ftar-light, 
when night and flumber had fteeped mankind in oblivion ! 

How many a Sun have I feen fet gorgeoufly, and kept my fleep- 
lefs vigil till it again rofe brilliantly, as if refrefhed, from the 
Ocean > — till Time appeared as though merged in Eternity, and 
myfelf floundering in its fhorelefs ocean ! 



FAREWELL. 109 

Yet deep thought, though plumed with the glittering wings 
of Imagination, brought not back on her pinions from the diftant 
fhores to which fhe travelled, pure joy or comfort, but became 
at laft as a clinging demon, purfuing me at all times, and in all 
places, till I became 

" Weary, gloomy, reftlefs, and forlorn ! " 

Such was my ftate of mind ere vifiting this lovely Paradife, upon 
which all that Nature, with her boundlefs wealth and profufion 
of life, could beftow, fhe has lavifhly poured out. 

Lakes, mountains, forefts, ftreams, waterfalls, and fairy illands, 
— the earth burfting with fanciful herbage and lovely flowers, — 
and all marfhalled under the waving banners of the varioufly-dyed 
foliage ! — furely thefe were fuflicient in themfelves to give fecond 
life and youthfulnefs to my fevered mind ! 

Thefe did much, but the fympathetic hearts and pure minds 
God fent to blefs me with their intercourfe gave to the paffive 
beauties around a more cheerful and hopeful glow, and foftened 
my mind to receive more deeply their delightful impreflions ! 

Though Thought has not yet forfaken me, her lacerating fangs 
have been extracted, and her demon form is foftening and fading 
into that of a hopeful-eyed angel. The black fkirts of the clouds 
of mifanthropy have almoft difappeared below the horizon, and 
the rympathy and religious feeling of my fmiling friends (though 
before perfect ftrangers) have thawed the ice of bitternefs and 
hatred, and faved me from an early grave. 

Adieu to thee, thou earthly heaven ! and mayeft thou afford 
to all parched fouls, who feek thy cheering face, the refrefhing 
balm thou haft fhowered over mine ! 



no FAREWELL. 

My beloved mountain friends ! A more bitterly-felt farewell 
I waft to you ! Never will you regret the kindnefs lavifhed on 
my unworthy felf : you have opened the door of friendmip to 
the heartfick ftranger, bound up the fores of a wounded foul, and 
poured therein the oil and wine of Chriftian love and peace, nor 
will my blelTed Heavenly Father (the only Father's care I ever 
knew) let you go unrewarded ! 

Perchance my path is through troubled waters, or over the 
cold mountain peaks of mind ! or perchance even now my days 
are almoft numbered ! 

If I live I will not be foon forgotten either by the world or 
you ; and if I die I fhall carry the memory of the many happy 
hours we have fpent together with me to Heaven, to confole me 
till, one by one, you drop into its halls, and we join in a more 
blefTed and lofty communion ! 

God blefs and profper you all ! * 



* After feveral months 1 travelling, I vifited Ireland, and came to thefe 
lovely lakes, my purfe being nearly exhaufted . When I arrived at the " Lake 
Hotel," which was a fhort time back a private manfion, and ftill refembles 
one, I fent for the proprietor, and afked him if (though a ftranger) he would 
confide in my honour mould I leave before a remittance arrived from Eng- 
land ? 

He immediately replied, that he mould be moft happy to ferve me in any 
way. 

Though I propofed flopping only three or four days, I have remained 
three months, during which time I have received the greateft civility and 
kind attention, which the Iriih, above any nation, can moft delicately afford. 

All who wilh for a delightful, quiet, and romantic refidence, when vifiting 
thefe lovely lakes, will thank me for recommending them to Mr. Cotter, and 
if they will further afk for my old favourite attendant, John, they will find 
every little want anticipated ! 



A 



FAREWELL. in 

To my Work. 

ND now, O thou dear little work of my heart ! go forth 
. from the warm neft of thy infancy, but ere thou leaveft 
my hands to meet (perchance) the cold glance of ftrangers, let 
me blefs and bid thee God fpeed ! and give thee a warm and 
affectionate " farewell ! " 

We fear not but that thou wilt find fome, if not many, who 
will take and treat thee kindly ! Not perhaps for the wifdom, if 
any fuch there be, enfhrined in thy pages, but for thy youthful 
promife of a fuller, nobler, and more manly development of thy 
owner's powers, and the love which over-canopies thee ! 

And here, before the parting feal be given, let us indulge in a 
little egotifm as a flight explanation, and justification, of thy 
author. 

From a boy, Julian, or Alaftor (for they are different cogno- 
mens of the fame perfon), poffeffed deep-felt, though unuttered 
afpirations and longings for the happinefs of the whole human 
family, that only true happinefs arifing from the love of God and 
man, which duties, if lovingly performed, would bring down rich 
ftreams of Heaven even upon Earth ! 

But lo ! he was thrown into the vortex of the World, or rather 
he was placed in fuch a pofition, that he could fee and obferve 
calmly the rapid whirl of that fearful Charybdis ! 

His heart fickened and hope almoft expired, when he beheld 
the mattered wrecks of the loftieft human hopes and interefts, 
and the lifelefs bodies of the. fair Angels of good, dafhed, whirled 
with contempt, treated as vile weeds, and finally engulfed in its 
profoundly difmal demon jaws ! 



ii2 FAREWELL. 

None knew the agony of his foul at this fpe&acle ! — his heart 
fainted, and almoft became the prey of dark Defpair. 

He withdrew with hafty footfteps, as foon as he could break 
the chains that confined him to his horrid rock of obfervation ; 
and left the world of man, as he then hoped, for ever, wifhing to 
become a fimple child of Nature, and to live and die in the con- 
templation of her majeftic beauties ! 

But He who will not forfake thofe who look up to Him with 
tearful eyes of fupplication for aid and protection, again brought 
him as if led by blind chance, (for God parades not his gifts like 
man !) to a cheerful and funny Ifle of pure and religious friendfhip. 
His foul then again rofe, fhook off her torpor, and began to arm 
herfelf with the armour of ftrength, and thofe weapons of love 
which might conquer the World-fiend by their pliancy. 

Had not this been fo appointed, he would have doubtlefs made 
a bold, bitter, and uncompromifing attack upon the " Vile World" 
which, alas ! but too often ferves to increafe the virulence of her 
evil paffions ! 

May God give him ftrength to carry on the good fight of faith 
and love, and prevent him ever again wafting his ftrength in vain 
repinings, or contempt of that World which love may yet con- 
vert into a friend worthy of his warmeft efteem ! 

And now let us tell thofe who might have mifunderftood or 
under-rated his aims, whilft in the World, and alternately floun- 
dering in the abyfs of Melancholy (or leaping goat-like from peak 
to peak of the higheft Mountains of Hope), that moft of the 
thoughts, and all the afpirations, embalmed in thefe pages were 
then his, and that his indolence was not fo great as they might 
have imagined ! 



FAREWELL. 113 

A noble-hearted and affectionate fifter alone knew his early 
afpirations, and was joined at a later period by one whofe kind- 
nefs to and appreciation of him, taught him to regard her as a 
mother. 

Thefe, and thefe alone, knew vaguely that which lay nearer! 
his heart, and to thefe he appeals as witneffes of the truthfulnefs 
and reality of his feelings and fentiments, as expreffed in this 
little work ! 

Go forth, then, ye pages of my heart, and may God blefs and 
profper ye ! 








SUPPLEMENTARY. 

HUS ended " the murmuring, glowing, meandering, 
earneft little book," as a great living Critic has 
kindly termed it. They who have learned to look 
with intereft on Julian's footfteps and opinions can 
accompany him again through a fhort tract of fupplement, in 
which he will guide them rapidly beneath the magic porch of 
Imagination ; — into the crypts of the Paft ; — through the land 
of the Prefent ; — into the mifts of the Future. 

Homewards Bound. 

BITTER is the parting word even to partial friends, but how 
trebly fo when tremblingly, lingeringly, uttered, to thofe 
who have entered into and warmed with their genial prefence 
the fandtuary of our inmoft hearts ! 

Thus Night was hafting away into the paft Eternity when 
Julian lingeringly turned from the warm home of his beloved 
friends, and felt u thoughts too deep for tears" rufh with raven 
wings through his gloomy foul ! 

The Sun arofe,— glanced his quivering diamond fhafts athwart 



HOMEWARDS BOUND. 115 

the trembling lakes, and lit the mifly chafms of the cloud-wreathed 
mountains. A fad palling gaze at the wood-embowered home 
of his heart, a tacit blefling on its beloved inmates, and it fank 
from his view, perchance, he then thought, for ever ! 

For many a mile did he glance back on that faft-receding Eden 
where his foul had once more drunk in youthful peace and inno- 
cence. The wooded hill had long difappeared, but ftill did the 
lofty cone-fummit of the Tore mountain point its locality. Gra- 
dually, faintly, flickeringly, at laft it alfo difappeared through his 
tearful eyes, and with a wild ftart he awoke from his gloomy 
reverie with his ftern purpofe to do or die, as his reftlefs com- 
panion. 

He fawthe morrow's fun rife grandly over a fleeping Capital : 
— he darned acrofs the difTevering fea : — flew on the ruihing 
wings of fleam through the wildly beautiful fcenery of North 
Wales ; — then arofe the fretful fweltering towns of manufactur- 
ing England, dotting her broad breaft of richly wooded green ; — 
and Night ufhered him into the vaft Maelftroom of competition, 
— boundlefs wealth and deathly poverty, — loftieft knowledge 
and deepen: ignorance, ambition, crime and difeafe — that human 
whirlpool, — London ! 

Julian loved it not, fo fwept fwiftly away to his own romantic 
and beloved little bay by the eternal-voiced ocean, which he hailed 
with the eager delight of a long-abfent fon ; — for moft filially did 
he love that hoarfely-grand old Ocean whofe organ notes of myf- 
tic grandeur had ever fpoken fuch rapture to his bounding free- 
dom-loving foul. Nor was human fympathy abfent from this 
meeting, for the warm grafp of many a poor feaman welcomed 
the young hermit home. 



n6 A SEASIDE VIGIL. 

We fear not, but love to detail the true wanderings, bodily 
and mental, of an ardent foul, to mow that in a fo-called profaic 
age, where Society has levelled many of the mountains of Afpira- 
tion, and filenced with her frown the voice of many a generous 
but weak foul, who hated her defpotifm, as alfo that of her dar- 
ling bantling Opinion, — that fiery young fouls are not wanting 
to fpeak boldly their fentiments, — to cenfure what they fee is bafe 
whether in king or peafant, — to hurl the firebrands of defiance 
into the foul dens of Prieftcraft, Selfifhnefs, and Hypocrify, — 
who ftill fee Life through a poetical and romantic medium, and 
though the World be grey with crime and tyranny, that the frefh 
breezes of Paradife ftill play about its folitary fpots, where the 
voice of Patriarchal hofpitality, ftill welcomes the wandering 
ftranger. 

We now give the refult of one of Julian's frequent Night 
vigils, and a (ketch of his feafide hermitage. 



A Seafide Vigil. 

NIGHT had laid her cool hand over the feverifh brow of 
the fleeping World, and vifions floated through the cham- 
ber'd minds of myriads. 

But in a darkly draped ftudy, piled with the glorious works of 
the " great departed," grotefquely furnifhed, and adorned pro- 
fufely with works of art, and fanciful tufts of feathery grafTes 
with wild flowers intermixt, and envafed, thoughtfully fat Julian 
with lamp extinguifhed. The fitful firelight glanced on the dark 



A SEASIDE VIGIL. 117 

curtain-folds, and quaint oaken tables, occafionally revealing the 
golden title of fome departed Poet's or Philofopher's lore. 
Through his opened lattice came the myftic voice of the mighty 
ocean with its murmurous notes of deep-toned melody. High 
in the lofty heavens cinctured with pearly cloud-wreaths floated 
the veftal moon. — Far over the blue waters glittered her quiver- 
ing path of heaving filver, over which an occafional white-wing' d 
vefTel flowly failed like a fairy bark, bearing its happy freight of 
homebound hearts, and wealthy merchandife from diftant lands, 
to pour into the abforbing heart of the vaft City to which they 
flowly wended. Over the dim weftern waves fitfully glanced, 
like a wavering hope, the revolving beacon of a foreign land, and 
nearer over the eaftern tide glared the red light of the warning 
light-fhip moored near the deadly Goodwin quickfands, in which, 
how many a brave heart, and gallant veflfel, lie deeply ingraved 
till the upheaving day of doom ! 

Many a night had Julian gazed with folemn ecftafy on this 
glorious fcene ; and many a myftic meaning had flowly globed 
itfelf out from his thought-chaos, whilft dreamily furveying its 
beauties. A few faint ftars now, like fickly fireflies floated in 
the light-blue boundlefs ether, and filled up the natural chalice 
of beauty. 

And gazing dreamily on that folemn vifion of beauty, and 
thofe earneft gull-like vefTels, the golden gates of Imagination 
rolled back, and Julian paflfed through into the vaft realms of 
mind. And lo ! rich freighted ideas came failing out of the cir- 
cumambient gloom over the ocean of thought, and dancing 
athwart the filver path of intenfe fcrutiny, and obfervation, again 
glode into furrounding darknefs, — even as he had juft obferved 



n8 THE CAVES OF PHANTASY. 

thofe material barks float over the moon-filvered path of the 
ocean, on whofe mores he now thoughtfully reclined; — the 
fketches of which floating thoughts will be found pictured forth 
below. 



The Caves of Phantafy. 

I PASS through the dim vaft caves of Phantafy into the Crypts 
of the Paft, filled with the floating images and founds of paft 
events. Sounds of muffled difcord fwell mournfully throughout 
the awful fhades. I hear the loud angel-anthem fwelling through 
boundlefs fpace on the re-creation of the World and the marriage 
of fpirit with matter, in the form of the firft man ; — then follows 
their woful plaint o'er his fall from innocence. I hear the Am- 
ple chant of the Patriarchs hymning their gratitude to the watch- 
ful protector of their herds and homes, mingled with the riant 
founds of Godlefs mirth and blafphemy. Then arifes the awful 
crafh of a deluged World, the whirlwind fhrieks of drowning 
myriads, fucceeded by the fluggim fplafh of the finking waves. 
The frefh filvery paean of the forewarned and God-faved man and 
his family cleaves the again-fmiling face of Heaven. Follow, — ■ 
the happy fongs and mirthful founds of patriarchal times, fading 
away into the ambitious war cries of rifing Nations, and the fear- 
ful myfterious chanting to animal gods in the fubterranean caves 
of the Egyptian Priefthood, fucceeded by the long loud agonized 
cry of bondaged Ifrael, then arifes their exulting hymn of deliver- 
ance on the Red-fea more, followed by the hoarfely mutinous 
murmurs of groaning years. 



THE CAVES OF PHANTASY. 119 

* * * * * * * 

Now arifes the Avalanche crafh of falling kingdoms and em- 
pires, the heaving death-groans of murdered myriads, the fluggifh 
gurgle of the vaft oriental fea of blood. The tempeft-lhrieks 
of human victims as they pour their unwilling blood on the altars 
of demon gods accurft, and finally black, denfe, religious dark- 
nefs englooms the" world of man. 

******* 

Faintly but increafingly arifes the hum of polifhed cities, and 
the melodious, bloodlefs but fenfual rites, of mythic Gods ; — fol- 
lows, the low lapping of falfe creeds by the ftill fmall waves of 
Truth, gradually increafing their roar through the cities of en- 
lightened Greece, till an orient ftar hovers o'er Paleftine, and 
the jubilant fong of Earth's Guardian Angels echoes through 
fpace at the birth of the Man-God. i-A paufe. 

tJ& 3f vfc 3|* ^jy "sir ?fc 

Again the fearful yells of mangled martyrs riling fuller and 
louder, till agony has boldly dared to mate with the mild fpirit of 
Chriftianity ; — then comes the cralh of ancient empires, and the 
ftruggling birth-throes of infant kingdoms. The ftream of Chris- 
tianity though blocked with the lavage rocks of olden creeds, 
ftern prejudices, and tyrannous oppreffion, has darned and crept 
through all ; — for truth, like water muji find its own level, — and 
now has poured its rich fertilizing floods through the hearts of 
Nations. — Chriltian fongs of triumphant joy I hear cleaving 
through the vaulted centuries, which alas ! gradually Iwell into 
the gorgeous fenfualized chants of Prieftly Rome. Then is the 
garment of limplicity torn away, and the gorgeoufly embroidered 
robes of ceremonial, and unfpiritualized forms are heaped upon 



120 THE CAVES OF PHANTAST. 

the fainting form of Chriftianity. The founds of fimple earneft- 
nefs and confiding love fade away into the long loud exultant 
chant of Prieftly Rome and Spiritual Anarchy. Like Prometheus 
of old, the Popes now feize the keys of Heaven, or rather, 
wheedle poor St. Peter out of them, and open the doors only to 
whom they lift ; a weighty toll being demanded from each tra- 
veller who would pafs through. 

V& 7F VF vf» *vf» vf* 

Europe now fupplants Afia, and takes the reins of advance- 
ment from her. Chriftianity though damm'd up by the floodgates 
of Popery, ftill pours thin cryftal ftreams therethrough, which 
ftream through the fouls of Eremites, and perfecuted feels of 
holy men. The Warfiend contrives to mate with the name of 
Chriftianity in the "Holy Wars" (lyingly fo called), and is re- 
buked by fevere defeat for the blafphemy. 

The hum of mercantile cities mingles now with the groans of 
the bulk of mankind, opprefTed by a barbarous feudalifm, and 
often does the ferf believe God to be only the ally of the rich 
and powerful. 

vl* vp >I* >*» ^* T|» 

Again the cries of martyrdom rife higher, for Rome is power- 
ful, and has many cruel allies. The groans of victims coldly 
and canonically murdered for the blefTed love of Chrift, go up to 
the throne of God, — who hears their piteous plaint and fends a 
blefTed Reformation to loofe the fpiritual bonds of the enflaved 
nations. 

Suddenly the ftrong but long-pent ftream of civilization is un- 
loofed and pours its dafhing, refrefhful waters through the World. 
The broad banner of Advancement is unloofed to the winds, 



THE LAND OF THE PRESENT. 121 

and freedom, fpiritual and temporal, fpreads like morning over 
the Earth. Down, — down, fiercely rufhing and gufhing, come 
the ftreams of Civilization, Induflry, Political Brotherhood, and 
Freedom, adown the clefts of the remaining centuries, till they 
burft into the fea of World-Induftry, Peace and Practical Chrif- 
tianity, now dafhing beneath the vaft dome of that pure Palace 
of Cryftal, Handing in the capital of our own beloved Ifle. 

The vifionary clouds rolled away, and the low dam of waves 
again poured refreftifully through Julian's ear, but again they rolled 
back through the deep vault of thought and difclofed, 



The Land of the Prefent. 

FROM roaming the dim Vaults of the Paft, I flowly afcend 
to the broad funlit realms of the Prefent, and obferve the 
events, (or the opinions which are the fouls thereof,) ftalking 
through its varied landfcape of mottled funlight and fhadow. 

In the far diflance I defcry the difeafed forms of aged Creeds, 
Beliefs, and Opinions, faintly tottering and panting onwards to- 
wards yon far-feen Canaan of the Future, whofe beauties loom 
faintly through the mifty diftance, — which many of them, thank 
Heaven ! fhall never reach, nor can any without a new influx 
of healthy youthful life, which the ftrengthening aliments of 
Earneftnefs, Charity, Difintereftednefs, and Iron-faith, alone can 
yield, for want of which the religious world has long famifhed. 

I fee the proftrate, but patient form of Godlike Chriflianity, 
chained on the rocky mountain of Formalifm to which the demons 
Selfifhnefs and Apathy have chained him, whilft the greedy vul- 



122 THE LAND OF THE PRESENT. 

ture — Prieftcraft, (their ravenous hungry-eyed bantling,) gorges 
upon his bleeding heart. 

But I alfo faintly difcern the armed hand of God coming through 
the mift of the Future, to finite the vulture ; cleave the chain ; 
and fet the noble captive free into the human world, there to 
difFufe the fire of light and love he brought from Heaven. 

I fee vaft multitudes of mortals gazing into the blank air of 
mind, vainly endeavouring to difcern through the zenith of their 
fouls, the dazzling throne of the God they are imperfectly taught 
to worfhip, and feeing it not, defpair :— who look doubtfully into 
fome inane realm of fpeculative thought, and ftill fee nought but 
uncertain light. They fee not that His fpirit glances from be- 
neath every grand, or fimple phafe of Nature furrounding them, 
and is the moving foul of the natural bleflings poured over them. 
He is ifolated from his own houfe of Creation, and from fome 
unimaginable diftance fits calmly contemplating the actions of 
mankind, — condemning or rewarding; and fympathifing but 
little with his poor tempted children of clay. God to many is 
but a vague found, an abftracl: word, which he who invokes 
ofteneft, cares and knows leaft of: — a vague mift or cobweb of 
abftracl: uncomprehended attributes, which the firft ftrong-buz- 
zing doubt fhall break through, or tear : — who look upon the 
World as infinitely diftant from heaven and the immediate pre- 
fence of God, however they may pretend otherwife : — who fee 
not that the. Univerfe is but the one grand temple of God, in 
which all fouls may worfhip the good, the true and the beautiful 
thus difplayed outwardly ; — which worfhip leads to, yea, is, the 
love of Him who is the confummated flower or perfection of all 
thefe ! — God wants not worfhip, unlefs it be love-worfhip ! God 



THE LAND OF THE PRESENT. 123 

is not a vain earthly-minded monarch who loves fervile lauda- 
tion and obedience becaufe he is all-great and powerful ; but be- 
caufe he is good, and by loving what is all-good, we become in 
a great meafure that which we contemplate, and thus prove God's 
handiwork— man, is not a failure. 

I fee many a leaden-eyed, fupercilious lipp'd Prieft, of many a 
fe£t, clinging to and feeding ghoul-like upon the dead body or 
wealth, of their churches, whilft the living, earneft, burning, 
fpirit of their religion, has flown indignantly back to Heaven ! I 
fee the meek white-robed Prieft* (that he may ftill farther form- 
alize his creed,) for the fake of burning a few wax altar candles 
yearly ; — wearing an overall of white, inftead of black rag, and 
infifting upon his pofTeflion of a certain portion of the muddied 
ftream of Apoftolical Succeffion, — which has defcended through 
a long filthy channel in very footh, — give umbrage to his fequeft- 
ering flock, and though he feeds not their fpiritual wants, claims, 
unblufhingly his temporal fupply therefrom. — A fine illuftration 
of the meeknefs and unfelfifhnefs of true Chriftianity ! 

I fee the poor hollow-eyed child of Induftry, looking anxioufly 
around for " the poor man's God," to take pity on the helplefs 
and defpifed, and feeing not His helping hand ftretched forth, fink- 
ing into the abyfs of Godlefs apathy, and God-defiance, till their 
overwhelming numbers fhall rife and bear down all juftice, law, 
and religion to deftrudtion on the foaming creft of one wild wave 
of rebellion ! I fee the famifhed work-worn widow and orphan 
toiling down the morning-ftar ; — whilft the vulgar heartlefs mil- 
lionaire lights his lamp of luxury with their waning fire of life ! 

* Pufeyite. 



124 THE LAND OF THE PRESENT. 

I fee the religious hypocrite with a private leer don his fleek 
Sunday-fuit of Religion, — gladly doff it on the evening of that 
defecrated day, — then lie and cheat royally, by word or deed, the 
other fix. I fee many of thofe who belong not to the vaft feci: 
of Cantifts unearneft, heartlefs, and Godlefs ; and thofe who do 
belong thereto, pioufly devoting thofe who defpife their falfe- 
feeming and hypocrify, to the tender care of the eternal flames 
of the damned. Over moft of the fo-called Religious World 
I fee King Cant flaunting his tinfell'd and flaring banner ; — or 
Indifference fwinging "opiates from her ebon cenfer, drowfing all 
the latent afpirations of her votaries, and binding them to look at 
the dead letter, rather than the living fpirit of their religious be- 
lief. 

Yet in divers funny nooks do I fee the true broad-foul'd men 
of God, haloed with good deeds, and with the beams of Hope 
falling from a bright Future upon their feer-like eyes, which they 
prophetically behold from their lofty altitudes, (even as Canaan 
fell on the eyes of Mofes, ftanding on the peaked fcalp of Pifgah). 
Yea, I alfo fee bands of holy minded men, who live as well as 
profess religion, whofe benevolent faces are filled with the 
radiant light of univerfal love, charity, and humility ! Brightly do 
thefe funny fpots mine from out the furrounding gloom ! 
• I fee the fame Godlike expreffion glancing on the earneft up- 
turned face, and broad brow of many a wildly afpiring youth, 
yearning for and gazing on the brilliant Era, now floating like 
the golden plume of fome ftraying angel, down the vault of the 
glowing Future ! — And to fuch from my ocean folitude I ftretch 
forth the warm hand- of Love ; bid them God fpeed, and to weary 
not in well doing " for in due time they fhall reap if they faint 
not!" 



THE LAND OF THE PRESENT. 125 

And why fhould ye faint, my brothers ? Has not many a dark 
fiend who once ruled over, now been driven manacled with the 
curfes of injured myriads from the Earth ? Is not the bold brow 
of Truth more radiant, — lefs enfanguined, and is not her thorn- 
crown of Agony now removed to the Hoping brows of Falfehood, 
Ignorance, and Hypocrify ? Can Prieftcraft now extinguifh the 
lamps of Science, and quench her daily increafing truths ? Is the 
Noble now an oppreffive, (law-permitted), feudal tyrant ? Can 
the Monarch himfelf now tyrannize, torture, and provoke the 
wholefale murder of war at his " own fweet will ? " Is not the 
ingenious, hard-palmed fon of Induftry, exalted far above the 
foft filky-handed fon of flothful Eafe ? Have not the Nations of 
the World met to honour the ingenious artizan ? Would they 
have done fo to honour mere breath-created Nobility unlefs they 
likewife had performed fome noble achievement ? Can gold ftill 
out-balance (with the majority of men), — mental worth, and 
nobility of foul ? Dare private Oppreffion lift her head when the 
Giant Prefs towers above, wielding his ponderous axe of Juftice ? 
Enter the cryftal dome of that temple of Induftry and univerfal 
brotherhood now ftanding, — learn there, the bright folution of 
many of thefe queries ; and behold with delight the vaft improve- 
ment and enlightenment now poffefiing the wide human world ! 
Behold Peace failing down the blue vault of the univerfal human 
mind, feathered with bleffings, and the banifhed form of brutifh 
War dwindling away into the land of Nothingnefs ! 

The grand Empire of Mind, with its fiery minifters of Juftice, 
Love, Charity, and Univerfal Brotherhood, is faft founding, its 
foundations are laid already in the wide heart of mankind ; and 
ere long its mighty walls of Love, its ftrong Towers of Juftice, 



126 GLIMPSES OF THE^ FUTURE. 

and its glittering pinnacles of Afpiration mall enring the Earth, 
and pierce the iky ! 

Is this but a mirage ? If ye have eyes to fee look abroad and 
obferve the figns of the Times ; for as fure as God's Spirit 
threads, like thoughts of light, this vaft Univerfe of whirling 
Worlds, and moulds their events aright, fuch things are, and 
(hall be ! 

******* 

Again the dam of waves was heard, and the filver arrows of 
moonlight were feen by Julian entering through his open lattice ; 
but ftill the vifionary mood remained, and he infenfibly found 
himfelf verging off into the mifty realms of the Future. 



Glimpfes of the Future. 

" And the World fhall advance by the might of the youthful, 
Till brightly it mines in the fplendour Elyfian." — Robert Hunt. 

LO ! I ftand in the lofty watch tower of the Prefent through 
the loopholes of which I catch faint glimpfes of fight and 
found, glancing, and roaring up through the mift veiling the wide 
ocean of the Future. 

Hear I not floating up from thofe vague depths the holy matin 
birth-bell of a more earneft, tolerant, earth-embracing adaptation 
of the grand creed of Chriftianity, fwelling alfo from the once 
idolatrous Orient ? — Hear I not the deep curfew tones of the 
prefent claming and contentious Religious Spirit ? And through 
thofe mifty folds catch I not faint glimpfes of a more calm peace- 



GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 127 

ful world ? See I not the jagged mafles of glacial formalifm, and 
barren rocks of ceremonial rites, now blocking and choking up 
the proud-heaving ftream of mind, fo that no true earneft foul 
can fail calmly and unimpededly on to the blefTed haven of Eter- 
nity, — torn up and whirling far adown the eddies and rapids of 
Oblivion into the dark Dead Sea of the Paft ? — And funk in the 
abyfmal depths of that filent fea how fleep the myriad corpfes 
of once deified living creeds, forms, theories, ideas, and events ? 
King Form, though not fo hale as of yore, ftill fits his throne, 
and ftill do the myriads pay tribute and adore. But fee I not the 
bleared eyes of old age, — the quivering voice, — the faltering hand 
upon him, and the infant glance of mutiny in the eyes of many ? 
Inftead of his old minifters Materialifm and Senfualifm, with their 
train of materialized beliefs, fee I not the lufty youth Spiritualifm 
with heavenly fire, and virtuous indignation in his eye proudly 
and unbendingly furveying the old dotard who ufurped his birth- 
right, and ere long will he not gently but firmly remove the 
ufiirper ? Is he not quietly at work with many a vigorous youth- 
ful mind ? And fhall the tyranny of Opinion alway choke the 
utterance of nobly earneft, and afpiring fouls ? No ! already have 
they ftepp'd out from the old ranks, and with a ftout yet humble 
and loving heart do I here alfo pledge myfelf to fight to the death 
under their banner againft the fiends Hate, Scorn, Opinion, In- 
tolerance, and Prieftly domination, whilft the true naked eflence 
and the eflence alone of Chriftianity in its wideft fenfe, fhall fill 
our minds with valour to fight the good fight of advancing Truth, 
and Love. We claim the immunities of mind and infight as 
well as Priefts ! We wifh to fall proftrate to the Will of God, 
but not of his unearneft and dogmatical ministers — often falfely 



128 GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 

fo called. We wifh each heart to become a holy temple dedi- 
cate to God, its foundations rooted in, and not difmembered from, 
Nature and Humanity, but its pinnacles finking heavenwards !— 
Each foul its own fpiritual interpreter, if it be fo minded ! Each 
man his own Prieft, and his family his flock ! We wifh for lefs 
garifh outfide religion, and more inward j that the religion of 
feven days fhall not be done in one denfe unleavened lump on 
the feventh. We defpife the claim of Apoftolical Succeffion and 
infight claim' d chiefly by the leaft religious and moft proud Priefts ! 
We claim for ourfelves (with the bleffing of God) as deep a feer- 
fhip, — as clear a judgment^ — and a far deeper earneftnefs in fpi- 
ritual matters than the majority of them ! Nor will we be de- 
voted with a fanctimonious figh to eternal damnation, for daring 
to diflfeminate our own views on fpiritual matters ; for fcorning 
their unworthinefs ; and for prefuming to flit the fkirts of their 
long-flowing robe of Pride ! A new Era is floating down the 
vault of Futurity over the Earth, and even now its golden fringe, 
gilt by the dawning Sun of Truth and Freedom touches the Uni- 
verfal human mind, and thrills it with refrefhful youthfulnefs, 
and expectancy. Many think the Millennium even at the door. 
This event will be when Chriftianity fhall be a&ed, inftead of 
fpoken, and this event muft foon be, or the word Chriftian fhall 
become an epithet of reproach, which may God through the 
medium of earneft fouls prevent ! 

From the land of Heaven I fee many a noble bark floating 
adown the fwelling ftream of the Future, freighted with nobly 
earneft minds broad-brow'd and open-foul'd, and thefe are they, 
who with the fharp axe of Truth fhall fell many a fhadowing and 
injurious foreft of rank Opinion, with its briery undergrowth of 



GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 129 

lacerating bigotry and intolerance, where reptile paflions are har- 
boured and unmoleftedly dwell. 

Fear not, my brothers, that Prieftcraft, whether Popifh or other- 
wife, mail ever again wave her bloody ftandard over the nations ! 
The Gates of Mind, thanks to the philanthropic advances of 
popular education, are now flung open to myriads, who would 
crufh her tyrant head dare fhe again raife her oppreflive hand as 
of yore ! Rather fear left Infidelity and Atheifm ftamp the mark 
of the Beaft on the brows of myriads, fince the indifferentifm 
and avarice of thofe who call themfelves the minifters of the liv- 
ing God, have unhinged the confiding belief of their innocent 
childhood. 

I fee the age of Apathy, Cant, and Intolerance, rolled away 
like a black fcroll into the archives of Eternity there to reft till 
removed by the hand of the recording Angel and read before the 
judgment feat of God. But I fee alfo living ftreams of light and 
love flowing down from Heaven through the electric chains of 
earneft man-loving fouls, flooding the Earth with holy beauty, 
charity and univerfal kindlinefs. 

And lo ! the Poet's foul is fuch electric chain, and high on the 
loftieft peaks of the Future, I fee him ftand crowned by his 
fellow-men with the glittering coronet of efteem ; engarlanded 
with flowers of love, culled from the funny flopes of innocent 
hearts and afpiring fouls ; his pen his fceptre and fword of Juf- 
tice ; — mankind his fupporters ; and he aiming to be but the 
fpiritual interpreter, and high prieft, in the Natural Temple of his 
loving, and beloved God ! 

The vifionary clouds fled away, and again Julian heard the 

K 



130 GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 

meafured dafh of the flowly heaving waves filling his dark ftudy. 
His fire was low, his pulfe fluggifh, but his heart was glad. The 
fick beams of twilight faltered into the dark-curtained recefles of 
his room : — the moon lay fainting before the dawn of a brighter 
luminary — like this age mail do before the dawning Sun of the 
Future, — and coldly calm the earth and fea ftretched broadly 
around. 

In the eaft lay the folded clouds piled on the heaving floor of 
the fea ; cold, dead, and movelefs they flood, — like the lifelefs 
forms of prefent creeds, ere the re-dawning fun of Earneftnefs 
touch them into life and golden beauty ; — faintly, but increasingly 
flew up thin {hafts of faint fafFron to the zenith; — the fafFron 
deepened into gold; — the earth grew radiantly beautiful; — the 
dead clouds grew bright with laughing gold, — then filled with in- 
tenfe luftral life : — they lifted flightly, and at length between the 
rift of cloud and ocean, up floated the broad globe of the glorious 
Sun mooting a quiver of brilliant arrows along the fea — amongft 
the o'er-canopying clouds — over the cliff's — upon the fimple cots 
and greenfward — and into Julian's adoring foul, — who inwardly 
felt that did he not worfhip a fpiritual Sun of Glory, — this out- 
ward fymbol of God, fo inftincl: with life, light, and bleffings, 
mould fee him like an oriental devotee, on his knees, a loving and 
adoring worfhipper ! 

Thus ended one of Julian's vigils, which enlarged his mind, 
filled his foul with folemnity, and a ftrange feeling of Eternity, 
and gave him a diftafte to the fmall cares and follies of the World, 
which he had long ago failed paft on his path o'er the waters of 
Life, Such nights could not fail to make him vifionary, enthu- 
fiaftic, and prematurely grave, all of which they had accomplifh'd 
molt regally. 



GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 131 

During fucceeding vigils in divers fcenes, — for his mind was 
ever a worfhipper in the folemn Temple of Night, — various ftray 
thoughts bearing on the fubjecl: of the prefent work, fell at inter- 
vals like leaves from his growing tree of Wifdom, which, as they 
dropped without order, fhall here follow even as they fell ; — fome 
perchance green and permeated with the refrefhing fap of Truth, 
others perhaps prematurely autumnal, or deftitute of moifture 
from their birth. 

TIME is the Sexton of the grand Cathedral of Life, who tolls 
the knell of dead Eras, buries them in the grave-yard of the 
Paft, but registers in his mailive chronicle, the birth, life, and death 
of all fhort-lived paffing Events ; — which chronicle he will yield 
on his death-bed, in the laft day of the reign of Matter, (when 
his Temple fhall be alfo overthrown) ; into his Creator's hands, 
to be depofited in the Archives of Eternity, and the crafh of the 
material univerfe mall be his curfew, when its fheath, or lifelefs 
body, falls away from the gleaming Spirit which refided within 
its cafe or cruft. 

THE thoughts of a great Poet or original Thinker, like moun- 
tain torrents, fink firft through the higheft talented minds, 
and gradually lapfe therethrough, till they fweep adown, gathering 
fullnefs and force as they go, and pour through and fertilize the 
broad valleys of humanity where their rich beneficial effe&s are 
chiefly and more extenfively vifible. So with the once thin 
ftreamlet of Chriftianity ; and fo, with all great teachings fince 
Time began. So alfo with each individual mind, which is a mi- 
nute reprefentative, in its fpiritual wanderings, backflidings, and 
afpirations, of The Ages of the World. 



132 GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 

TO fpeak effectually to fpirits cooped in matter, furrounded by 
material agencies, — a material Univerfe, and unacquainted 
with fpiritual exiftence, — fpiritual meanings and revelations muft 
be encafed in material fymbols or imagery, even as " The Word" 
ere it could fpeak effectually to mankind took flefh and dwelt 
among them. A Truth floating down from Heaven to Earth, 
then, to pafs intelligibly through, and become ftandard knowledge 
in the human mind univerfal, muft take a material clothing, or 
become as it were the inner foul dwelling within an outer fimile, 
ere it can be vifible and intelligible to the mind of man, for as 
we have faid elfewhere, 

" Matter knows not Spirit's form."" 

Some thinkers ufe imagery merely to clothe their abftracl: ideas 
after evolving them from the depths of thought. Fir ft arifes 
from ihe Paradife of meditation the naked idea, and then feeing 
it to be naked, and oftentimes imperfect, the fig-leaves of imagery 
are thrown over it to give it a fairer ihow, or to attract the eye 
of the reader with its fanciful drefs, and thus pafs it more plea- 
furably into his mind. 

Others, more earneft and natural Poets, (for every writer who 
clothes great truths with eloquent language is a true Poet), look 
upon the thoufand lovely or grand forms of Nature with a lov- 
ing eye, until a living fpiritual meaning fprings out of the inani- 
mate fymbol, and this is the grand language of Nature where the 
thought, — like fragrance oozes out of the form. 

The firft is the thought of man arraying itfelf in the imagery 
of God's creation to give it grandeur and extrinfive charm ; — the 
latter is the thought of God refiding in Nature and breaking 



GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 133 

through its form or fymbol-fhell into feif-utterance to fome deeply 
attentive foul. 

One, is the thought of man arrayed in bright garments from 
the wardrobe of the Eternal, — the other, is the meaning of God 
fpeaking in his own language, through the forms of his own cre- 
ation, to the univerfal mind of his alfo created children. The 
firft is thought clothed loofely with extrinfive imagery: — the 
fecond is imagery containing the thought, which like the pith in 
the core has grown up with the tree. In fine, the firft is the 
coronal of culled orange bloflbms adorning the brow of fome fair 
thought ; — the fecond, is the orange-tree itfelf engemm'd with its 
own living fragrant blooms. One is an adventitious ornament, 
the other is natural and felf-contained beauty ! 

Hence all true Poets have ever loved, and will ever love the 
majeftic folitudes of Nature. The companionfhip of the ocean, — 
of folemn forefts, — of afpiring mountains, — rufhing rivers, — gufh- 
ing ftreamlets, — murmurous fountains -, — funfet, twilight, moon- 
light, ftarlight, and the filent watches of midnight, crowned with 
the golden coronet of recreating morn ! Then, not only do they 
find noble imagery in the gorgeous wardrobe of the Univerfe in 
which to array their abftradl: and thought-evolved ideas, but out of 
thofe glorious natural phafes and fcenes mail thoughts themfelves 
break their fymbolic material fhells, and truths which lay like 
torpid fouls within for an Eternity, mail take wing into the ether- 
realms of mind, and enrich man's treafury of wifdom ! 

As the Egyptian hieroglyphs are ftill vifibly exifting but the 
key loft, even fo are the myftic hieroglyphics of Nature. Man, 
the fallen,has loft the key, and forgot even that it is a fymbolic 
language at all. This key God now lends but at intervals, to 



134 GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 

burningly earneft fouls, who in fits of intenfe afpiration, which 
raife them into the realms of infpiration, fee Nature as it were 
glorified and fwarming with unmanacled meanings. 

Yet that thefe Egyptian ciphers do contain meaning, though 
now unknown, who doubts ? Or who looking on the varied 
countenance of nature can believe that her various expreflions, 
are but chance-begot ? I have heard that the Enthufiaft gazed 
deeply on thofe grotefque ciphers of the defunct: Egyptian Prieft- 
hood, till gradually their meaning dawned over his foul, and the 
fecrets of the birth of Time unfolded ! So likewife will I gaze 
on the mightier and more folemn characters of Nature, till like 
the Divine hand-writing on Belfhazzer's palace wall the awful 
characters become luminous, and prove themfelves written by 
the finger of the Eternal. 

THE leflbn I gather from all religious teachings is this, — that 
the chief victory is obtained, when we fee God in all things, 
moving throughout and beneath external created things which 
we call Nature, — and that it is his hand guiding the rufhing 
chariot of events which he will furely drive fafelyon to fome blefled 
goal ! — When we feel that he is not a Great Spirit in fome far 
ofF abftracr. and unknown region, calmly perufing the every day 
page of life ; — not like one of the gods of whom the benighted 
" Epicurean" fpeaks in the following lines, 

— " As if, bleft 
And blooming in their own blue Ikies, 
The eternal gods were not too wife 
To let weak man difturb their reft!" 

(Moore.) 



GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 135 

but one who is ever anxioufly promoting the univerfal good of 
all created exigences, whether mortal or immortal, that he is 
within and around all, and that his* fpirit is the thread on which 
all events as well as things are ftrung. To this ennobling be- 
lief is naturally added, the earneft wifh to merge creature will 
into the Creator's will, and the defire to become a felf-paflive, 
but delighted atom of the vaft machine, in which God weaves 
the grand web of final happinefs and blifs, in which to envelope 
the fhivering body of the as yet aching, and miferable Univerfe. 
In fine, not to oppofe felf-will wall-wife to the onward march of 
God's Defigns, but to throw it down as a plank o'er which they 
may march on to the goal of completion ! 

OFTEN When deeply contemplating the filent company of 
vaft congregated mountains, have I thought, — for what rea- 
fon ftand they there fo huge, dead and immoveable ? How vaft an 
expenditure of creative power apparently to fo little purpofe ! 
— for whilft one alone would outweigh all the men earth ever faw 
or will fee, yet has even an idiot more vital power and felf-com- 
mand within his own poor narrow brain ! Did God but touch 
them into life, what fwarms of felf-created, felf-motive beings 
would they fink down into and fwarm with ! Why ftand ye fo 
filent ? What mean ye ? Are ye but the records of fome horrible 
convulfion, when the crafti of the ponderous world rufhed in a 
hurricane of awfully ruinous found through the depths of fpace, 
and fhook the golden ftars like Autumnal fruit ? Or are ye the 
eternal monuments piled on fome vaft pre-Adamite Sodom, whofe 
name and exiftence are unknown ? Perchance ye were the natural 
ftrongholds of a mightier race than the mannikins now ftrutting 
heedleflly over the world's grand features ! 



136 GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 

Are they not meant for the foul of man to behold with awe and 
adoration the power without him which is far mightier than he ? 
Were there no huge mountains, oceans, ftorms, forefts, cataracts, 
in the world, — or vaft fyftems of Suns with their feparate revolv- 
ing planetary fyftems crowding and fhoaling within unfathomable 
Space — would man then feel fo greatly the majefty of his God ? 
Is not Adoration ever a kneeling devotee in the vaft Temple of 
the Marvellous and Sublime ? Do not Love and Veneration often 
fly in through the gates of Awe ? Would our idea of God be fo 
great were the World levelled and macadamized down to the 
vaft plain which Utilitarianifm would wifh to walk eafily over ? 
— And would exiftence be bearable to a noble foul without fome 
mightily good and great Power to reverence, and to whom it 
could pay the delightful homage of reverential Love ? The 
World without afpirations of which mountains with their cloud- 
piercing brows are the natural fymbols would become a wide 
level den of fnarling {hop-keepers, fharpers, and gold-gluttons or 
mifers, and from being a denizen in fuch a World, — cc Good 
Lord, deliver me ! " 

No ! I for one glory in ye, O eternal and heaven pointing 
mountains ! When I fcale your lofty fcalps, — over your thick 
mantles of bright cerulean heather, as though the fky had fallen 
into thofe countlefs bells of loving blue, — and gaze up into the 
heavens above, down upon the earth beneath, around upon your 
vaft and fublimely piled ranges, like huge waves of folid matter, 
flowing regularly on from the far mifty diftance, with what bound- 
ing falient delight, rufhes out my foul to embrace the grand 
works of my blefled Creator, and throw itfelf in a burfting ecftafy 
of love at his footftool, who in creating a world for his children, 



GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 137 

ftudied not alone their paltry material wants, and then ftopp'd 
his hand, but gave them grandeur and beauty with the liberal 
hand of a fatherly God, wherewith to nourifh and cheer their 
fouls on, to like great and beautiful actions ! 

BlefTed be God for the Mountains ! They ftand majeftically 
noble and unpolluted by the defecrating handiworks of Man ! 
The broad palm of God lies on their adoring and afpiring brows ! 
They are the natural watch towers of Religion and Solitude, their 
very atmofphere is poifon to fmall worldly cares and vanities, — 
and ever when a fpiritual reviver, who brings frefh life into a de- 
caying creed appears, muft he firft like the holy man-God Chrift, 
retire to the mountains alone to pray ; for there Ihall his foul be 
purified, ftrengthened, enlarged, and fublimed for the coming 
conflict: with mankind ; — the leathern- winged bat of fmall human 
Ambition, cannot fcale thofe heights ; the ftrong eagle eye and 
wing of faith alone reigns upon their lofty folitudes of thought, and 
when fuch teacher appears filled with vaft Contemplations, and 
with mighty imagery awaiting to clothe his great thoughts, he 
(hall " fpeak with power, and authority, and not as the fcribes ! " 

May the bleffing of all afpiring fouls reft on their noble heads ! 
I for one pour a heartfull of thankfgiving over their huge altars, 
yea, 

" I blefs them, and they shall be bleft ! " 

SINCE I firft entered the fombrous avenues of contemplation, 
often has a dark bat-like thought wheeled through the gloom, 
now difappearing in the diftance, but ever returning with more 
troublefome motions. Did God really know the poor beings he 
created would by myriads be doomed to eternal punifhment with- 



138 GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 

out any ultimate benefit or releafe from fuch dire endurance ? 
Are we not compelled to admit, that either His attribute of Om- 
nifcience is imaginary, if we believe him to be a loving and a 
pitying God ? — That the miniftry of Evil is but a bridge to fu- 
ture good, and cementer and delineator of Good by its dread 
contraft thereto ; — that the dark Evil Power is co-equal with the 
Good, as light with darknefs, and battles for empire therewith, 
the human heart being the tilting ground, — even as believed by 
the deep Oriental thinkers of old ? Or that God's fcheme in 
creating fuch as he knew notwithftanding all offers of falvation 
would refufe it and be damned eternally (as Calvinifts believe 
the cafe to be) was a cruel and ungodlike one ? Think of a burn- 
ing hell-univerfe, crammed with agonized and countlefs myriads 
of tortured fouls, rolling luridly onwards for ever through the 
depths of Eternity, whilft a heavenly world fails anear on wings 
of light and joy. Could God feel bleft, if he be fole Creator, 
whilfr. this proof of the fad imperfection of his creation lay ever 
beneath his eye. Had not God created mankind, would this 
eternal mifery have ever exifted ? 

And the thought, that as the Angels could, yea, did fall from 
Heaven to Hell ; — fo, reverfing the idea, might not a beam of 
light ftrike even from Hell to Heaven from fouls who through 
the agonizing deferts of repentance, felf-contempt, and annihila- 
tion of felf-will, fought their Father, whofe arms were ever held 
open to receive his poor repentant prodigals ? To allow that 
Angels were admitted to fall, but fallen fouls not admitted to rife, 
feems as though the Deity revell'd in the mifery of thofe he had 
a of his own free-will begat." 

Such is the fphinx-queftion ever rifing to confront me boldly, 



GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 139 

and which I feel bound to anfwer or perifh, whereas it appears 
an abfolute neceffity that the ideal I form of God mould be 
mightily, grandly good, loving, pitying and noble, ere I bend my 
knee in worfhip. Pity is the flower of greatnefs ; Love is the 
root of majefty ! 

I give publicity to this thought from good but private motives. 
I believe it to be of greater benefit to mankind to intereft them- 
felves on thefe noble queries, than on the myriad fmall queftions 
on temporal matters now choking up nearly all the avenues of 
thought. And when crowds of writers have taken fo dark and 
brutal a view of the eternal punifhment of poor fmall-foul'd 
wretches, and Dante and Pollok efpecially feem to gloat over 
with fuch fiendifh gufto the never ending agonies of the damned, 
the queftion above alluded to forces itfelf upon the mind. The 
terrors of Hell more than the fatherly love of God have been 
too much paraded, and every fmall preacher I have heard throw- 
ing his mite of hate and vengeance at the damned, till my foul 
has fickened with difguft. 

Friends may chide and ftrangers abufe my name for fpeaking 
fo boldly, but here let me tell all fuch, that more than friends, 
or home, or country, or life, or even love itfelf, do I prize the 
truthfulnefs, honefty, and manlinefs in which I lay my fentiments 
boldly, — defpite of fpite, — before the world ! As long as I have 
a God, and a confcience, to reward me for my unfeen motives, 
{hall I be plenteoufly rewarded and content ! 

EVERY perfectly developed mind is a little Univerfe or Cof- 
mos in itfelf. It is variegated by ftreams limpid or turbid, — 
either of love or hate,-— it has its peaceful valleys of reft and eafe, 



i 4 o GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 

— its craggy pinnacled mountains of afpiration enwreathed by the 
clouds of myftic adoration, — its tidal ocean of refolve and irre- 
folve, — its dark deep gulfs of fantafy and fpeculation, — its fun 
and made chequered land of memory, — its barren defert of fcep- 
ticifm, and its firmament of religious feeling, wherein bright 
hopeful thoughts are ftars. It has alfo its central, laft-reached 
Eden of reft and fimple beauty ; herein man learns the truth, that 
innocence is the higheft and lad attained peak of grandeur ; that 
confiding, childlike truft in God is the true fecret of power and 
happinefs, and that to annihilate or fink his own will into that 
of his Creator's does not make him a mere cipher in creation, 
but a trebly powerful inftrument in working brightly out the 
problem of Good or Evil, for which folution the material Uni- 
verfe was fhot into exiftence. 

This abforption of human into the Divine Will, is the trunk 
and branches of the Tree of Life, flourifhing in the centre of 
fuch garden, and feels, creeds, and dogmas are but the yearly leaves 
mooting out of its branches, and which then wither and fall. 

The human mind is a fmall internal duplicate of the external 
Univerfe ! — The innate, convex and negative fpirit-drop, reflect- 
ing the grand external and pofitive face of nature, which book of 
nature is open to, and read by every clay-cooped foul ; — which 
when it has left its imprefs on and moulded the total fum of 
human minds, (fuch impreflions being intended to be ufed, ex- 
plained, and underftood, in a future ftate of exiftence), fhall be 
rolled away into annihilation by its Creator. 



I 



QUOTE from a recent advertifement lift on the wrapper of 
a noted Literary Journal. 



GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 141 

" To the Clergy. — A Clergyman of long ft an ding, moderate views, 
" and confiderable experience, will furnijh Original Sermons 
" on the leading doclrines of the Go/pel, written in a legible hand 
a for il. 5*. each" &c. 

How muft the noble fouled editor of fuch journal haveblufhed 
for the fo-called minifters of the living God, when he faw the 
burning fhame ftamped upon his wrapper ! Have I faid too much 
about Church-Mammonifm, or Church-unearneftnefs ? To the 
feller and purchafer of fuch poached fermons, let me tell them 
that the true burning fpirit of Chriftianity cannot be in them ! I 
had written a fierce paragraph upon this advertifement, but I 
have thought it better to leave it alone in its own fhameful de- 
formity. 

I am happy to obferve that in Ireland, where I am now writ- 
ing, the fire of earnefrnefs burns brightly, in the upright foul of 
many a true minifter of God, and that Mammon is not wor- 
fhipped here as in England. 

AND now ere concluding, let me give vent to one word of 
gratitude to the reigning powers. I fear not the charge of 
fervility by any who have perufed my book, and feen my fpirit re- 
flected therein, — for it appeals not to potentates as fuch, — but to 
the broad heart of humanity. 

Our constitution, with the monarch at its head, has been uni- 
verfally admitted as the beft and firmeft grounded in the World, 
and rightly fo. A material and political ruler is almoft as ne- 
cefTary to our happinefs, and advancement, in temporal matters, 
as a Spiritual King is to the advancement and contentment of 
our fouls, and is a type of the latter. 



H2 GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 

I abhor, and would fhed my blood againft the cruel domina- 
tion of tyrants, crowds of whom have fat the enfanguined thrones 
of a hundred kingdoms. But when a good and virtuous monarch 
fways the fword of Juftice righteoufly, — fets a nobly moral and 
virtuous example ; fo that virtue inftead of vice (as formerly), 
becomes even the fafhion, — deeply interefts herfelf in their wel- 
fare, — crowns Induftry with honour and well-earned praife ; — 
encourages fcience, learning, arts and literature, — and at the fame 
time remembers that thefe latter are not the roots, but the flower 
of a nation's greatnefs, then am I proud to call myfelf a fubje£t, 
and to bend with reverential love to her fceptre. 

Such a Monarch now fits our ancient throne; her Confort 
has plucked the fruit of eternal and blefled fame from the Tree 
of Peace and Induftry which flourifhes only in the garden of 
God . — They have called forth the latent energies and genius of 
the Nations, — not to adorn a gaudy ufelefs " Field of the Cloth 
of Gold," — but to afTemble them peacefully under the cryftal 
dome of a vaft Palace of Induftry and mechanical genius, and 
the bleffings and eulogies of many a century yet unborn fliall reft 
on their united heads, when we hope the coronets of Heaven 
mall have difplaced thofe of Earth ! I afk whether fuch figns are 
not bright omens of the good coming times, when Peace and 
Univerfal Brotherhood fhall cover the earth like the radiant light- 
veft of a brilliant morning ?. 

Many legal abufes ftill exift, and many hard laws have yet to 
be foftened and remoulded by the fnowy hand of equable Juftice. 
The diablerie of that dark fearful hell-pit of Chancery ; the greedy 
mares of church-wealth allotted to many of the leaft worthy, 
whilft the poor, honourable and fenfitive Curate ftarves ; the al- 



GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE. 143 

low"ng a greedy and vulgar-minded millionaire to thrive upon the 
life blood of his poor workmen and women, and other fuch abufes 
have to be fwept into annihilation. The Monarch is not to 
blame for thefe, but the ftatefmen who moulded unrighteous laws, 
or permit petty tyranny ; and to judge righteoully, let us admit 
from actions already before us, that her arm would be the firft 
to make fuch rotten fruit from the branches which they difgrace. 
All things prophefy a bright Spring, and refurreclion from 
wintry cares and oppreffions ! Let us then look joyfully onwards, 
each one throwing his mite into the univerfal treafury of gene- 
rous actions and afpirations, — then mail a moral Paradife yet float 
down from heaven o'er this lovely World, which the evil paf- 
fions, prejudices, and tyranny of men, have hitherto rendered 
fo barren and fterile. Let us thank God for all his profufe but 
undeferved bleffings ; — try to deferve more ; — be more charitable 
to each other; — lenient to failings where compatible with the 
general good, refpe&ful to each other's opinions, and hopeful in 
the budding profpecls of the Future, 

For the funfhine aye fhall light the Iky, 

As round and round we run ; 
And the truth fhall ever come uppermoft, 

And juftice fhall be done. — Mackay. 



Self Criticifm. 

MY roving little book is flnifhed. Critics may cenfure the 
abfence of Art in its compofition, but I know fome of 
them will kindly hail its truthful narration, the imprefs of its Au- 
thor's heart and mind, ftamped on its every page, and its difre- 



H4 SELF CRITICISM. 

gard to the " rufty, mufty, nifty, crufty," laws of bookmaking, 
where brain- machinery is alone vifible and the real living heart 
of the author is nowhere feen, as the thread on which his utter- 
ances are ftrung. 

By thofe who cannot difcern the difference between earneft- 
nefs and vanity, I fhall doubtlefs be thought a gigantic Egotift \ by 
thofe who are enthufiaftic and impulfive like myfelf, I fear it not. 

I have fprinkled my book with ftar-fimiles till it fomewhat re- 
fembles a galaxy. They ever afforded me boundlefs delight ; 
how then could I fhut out the mild light of their fine imagery 
from my book, when they feem already a part of my foul ? Let 
thofe who blame turn their fpleen againft my dear old preceptor, 
who endeavoured (o kindly to teach me thofe beauties fcientifi- 
cally, which I loved fo naturally, for which may bleffings as 
plentiful as my ftar-fimiles fall upon his noble head ! Perhaps 
the day may yet dawn, when God will enable me to ftrike a few 
quivering notes of myftic meaning from their firings of light ! 

The wild enthufiafm of the book I glory in; that^ I fear, is its 
only recommendation ; and I think it an honour to fhout out my 
fentiments boldly in an Age which is looking for brave hearts and 
bold tongues, to voice forth its whifpered fentiments, but feldom 
finds. Yea, could I but fet the cold hearts of three parts of the 
human family a-blaze with noble enthufiafm, and thaw the huge 
glaciers of felfifhnefs I would fpeak in words of fire ! 

Several Spirits of Light hover o'er its pages. A deep child- 
like love of God and defire to fee his love acknowledged^ even as 
it is difplayed in all things. Its hatred to Cant, hypocrify and in- 
tolerance ; and its general heartinefs of tone and purpofe. That 
thefe are its chara£teriftics none can deny ; — which, kindly con- 



SELF CRITICISM. 145 

fidered, I fear not that critics will treat its many faults and fhort- 
comings harfhly, or the World with neglecl: ; for right well muft 
they perceive that its author fpeaks from his heart, and that heart 
is filled with love to God and Man ! 

Loch Guitane. 
September y 1851. 




C. WHITTINGHAM, CHISWICK. 
L 



Owing to the attack given below, and this being my first work, I 
have taken the liberty of quoting the following oppofing opinions y which 
otherwife I would not have done. A. 

EXCELSIOR; 

OR, THE REALMS OF POESY. 

« A VOLUME of mifcellanies comprifing reflexions on the Poets, 
-XjL criticifms indicating their characteriftics, and freely inveftigating 
their faults as well as their excellences, eflays and narratives, written 
with lingular elegance, and obvioufly the productions of a refined as well 
as of a reflecting intellect. The author's fympathies are always with 
the truthful, the fearlefs, and the generous, and few rife from the perufal 
of this little volume without having profited by it — with mind enlarged 
and fympathies extended. If the author is young, there is fo much of 
promile in this firft effort that we fhall hope fome day to welcome him 
to a high place in the literature of the age." 

The Critic : — London Literary Journal, 

" Your glowing, murmuring, meandering, earneft little book." 

Gilfillan. 

" Your very pleafing and elegantly written little volume. With moil 
of the critical opinions expreffed in it, I fully concur. 

P. J. Bailey. (Fejlus.) 

" Your beautiful little book, full of high thoughts." — Robert Hunt. 

" This book feems to have been printed for private circulation rather 
than for general publication, whence it happens that only the printer's 
name appears to the title, in addition to the pfeudonym of the author, 
whofe real name, however (I. Orton, to wit), clofes the introductory 
notice, which is dated from St. Margaret's Bay. In this we detect at 
once much careleflhefs and immaturity of ftyle. But let us, neverthe- 
lefs, turn to the poetical difquifition which forms the fubftantive ar- 



148 CRITIQUES. 

gument of the work itfelf. Here the juvenile Alaftor makes much ac- 
count, and rightly, of the fpirit of Love, as the only true infpiration for 
the genuine poet. He likewife treats us with a ' definition* of poetry; 
as thus: — ' Poefy is the lightning-chain 'twixt heaven and earth; it 
elevates the real into the ideal, and annihilates the cold, falfe, and dead 
laws of materialifm ; ' a definition which may be faid to defy criticifm 
— fucceeded by other definitions of the different profeffors of poetry, 
from Shakefpeare to Byron, which may be pronounced to be Jimilarly 
qualified. We have then certain rhapfodies on Byron, Keats, and Shel- 
ley; followed by others on Tennyfon, Bailey, Atherftone, Kent, (of 
whom we know nothing), Longfellow, Emerfon, Willis, Leigh Hunt, 
Lamartine, Cook, Mackay, Bulwer, Dickens, and Robert Hunt. Verily, 
there is in Mr. Orton a wild enthuiiafm, but as chaotic as could be 
wifhed. Need is that thereupon mould be induced fhape and form. 
Befides the poets above named, in fubfequent chapters we have certain 
ravings on a fcore or two others, fucceeded by certain metaphyseal fpe- 
culations on time and matter, not, however, fufficiently intelligible to 
permit of analyfis or citation." Illuftrated London News, 

" A book which I take to be the intellectual blofTom of your youth, 
a blofTom prefaging the golden fruits of poetry and paflion." 

W. C. M. Kent, 

"I am glad to fee you have fo well and warmly advocated the caufe 
of poetry. I have no doubt from the fpirit you have difplayed, — that 
the title of the book will be the watch-word of your own guidance in 
life and in literature." Charles Mackay. 

" Your elegant and exciting work * * * I have already feen fome 
fplendid ideas, expreffed in ftrong language. I expett a great intellectual 
feaft in perufing it." Bofworth. (Dr. Ang. Sax. Dicl. &e.J 

" I have been much pleafed by the evident enthuiiafm, with which 
you regard Poetry and Poets. * * * Your liberal remarks on Shelley 
have much pleafed me." Atherftone. 



J 



n. 



Lf;BJL'?8 



c 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Sept. 2007 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 




m 






I 



